Dear iTunes

For over a week now you have been jerking me around.  First you charged 3 separate items to my credit card that I had not authorized.  You refuse to tell me what said items were for.  I have tried to talk to a real person but alas you are so afraid of actually talking to your customers that you will only correspond in emails that seem to originate out of India.  I guess in retrospect that may be a good plan as I can never understand those people on the phone. 

Anyway, I had to call my bank to get the charges reversed but now I can’t update my iPhone.  Stupid iPhone insists that I have an Apple iTunes account to work so here I am stuck with you for another year and a half!  Between you and AT&T I have decided that I will become a Verizon customer as soon as my contract is up – maybe sooner if I don’t get these issues resolved with both of you (yes, AT&T is jerking me around as well – another story). 

So today I get an email saying I need to reset my password.  So I follow the link in the email that you sent and low and behold – the link works but the reset procedure doesn’t.  *sigh*  So now I have to send yet another email back to you telling you that your web site is broken and how do you expect me to reset my password now?

No love,

Me

The house is strangely empty

Erik left for college last Wednesday evening and ever since the house has been really quiet and empty.  Not that Austen and Aubri don’t make noise but when they are both at work the house is really quiet and empty.  *Sigh* I went from having all four home from April till the end of May, to now only the two are left. 

Tom’s kitty is really lonely since she had adopted Erik as her person but now he’s gone too – do I need to get the cat a depression counselor for abandonment issues?  LOL Austen has tried to take up the slack with the kitty and Aubri loves her all the time too.  She avoids me – I guess that’s because she was picking on my cat when she first came to the house and I had to discipline her (put her in her crate for time out) and I probably smell like my cat Stormy as well.  They tolerate each other now, but if Miss Kitty gets too close to Stormy, Stormy will still hiss at her.

Erik is planning to come home this weekend for Labor Day weekend.  I am going to be home Friday night but will have to get up Saturday morning and leave to go to the country as we have folks renting the place this weekend and Bill needs some help with all that. 

What’s cookin?

This week I’m tired of cooking. So I went to the store yesterday and bought a few frozen dinners (I still have plenty of leftovers in the freezer that I probably should eat up) and some deli meats and am going to wing it this week. I found a very interesting ethnic gourmet “Chicken Tika Masala” that I’m going to have for lunch today (Monday) and another Indian one for later in the week.

Ate out all weekend while we were at Northwest so now I have to walk walk walk to catch up on the points I used! Oops – you know I really did try but you just can’t stay on program and eat out at all!

Monday: Ok, I’m going to cook tonight – but that’s it! :) Salmon with pasta peas and Pesto – thanks to popfiend for suggesting Gojee :)
Tuesday: don’t know
Wednesday: don’t know
Thursday: don’t know
Friday: don’t know – oh well, I may or may not be home that night. Erik comes home for the weekend but we have folks at the property- decisions (I’ll probably be home that night and leave in the morning.)
Saturday: don’t know – will be at Bills
Sunday: don’t know – will be at Bills

Stevia is a good thing

The ongoing Greek Yogurt debate has brought me to Yoplait Greek Yogurt.  I’ve been trying different brands to see who has the best flavor and creaminess.  Yoplait is creamy but it’s really not very sweet.  However, I have found that a couple of drops of stevia will sweeten it right up and make it tolerable.

At first I forgot to check ingredients on the yogurts I was buying and found that some are really good and others not so much.  Now I know why those good ones taste so good – Corn syrup.  Evil corn syrup!  This stuff really isn’t good for you despite what the corn growers of America try to tell you – yes, your body does know the difference.  Corn syrup goes directly to fat, does not pass go and does not collect $200!  It also works on the appetite sensors in your body to make you crave it more (can we say sweet cocaine?)  Just Google corn syrup vs. sugar and you’ll get a multitude of articles about why it’s bad for you – worse than refined sugar.

So why Stevia?  (Have you seen the commercial about the woman who has a new love, a sweet love, it comes from a plant, etc… that’s stevia.)  It does come from a plant that grows right here in Missouri.  Just like sugar, this sweet plant is processed into liquid or crystal form and you can now buy it in health food stores.  I’ve seen a commercial where they show packets of it in restaurants but so far I’ve not found it commercially.  (The woman who complains about her ice tea to sugar ratio being destroyed by the waitress – that’s stevia too.)

So the quest for perfect Greek yogurt is still on going to find one without corn syrup is creamy and is sweet enough without aspartame.  It’s like finding a needle in a haystack.  J

Evil Pizza

It must be the salt content - or maybe the fat that goes right to my hips.. I'm not sure what it is about eating pizza that makes me gain 3 pounds overnight!  Last night I weighed in at Weight Watchers - still hovering at 40 pounds.  I was hungry for pizza and had lots of weekly points left over so I indulged in some think crust one topping pizza... this afternoon I weigh 3 pounds more than I did last night.... evil pizza!

And here I was worried about a Hurricane!

After yesterday’s earthquake in Virginia I was not too worried but still wanted to hear from Tom.  Last night I got a call about 6:15 – he almost missed it!  Yes, his first earthquake and he almost missed it. 

They were standing under a car port type structure working outside when they thought they felt a heavy troop transport driving by – except there was no transport.  They all stood around and looked at each other for a few minutes (apparently no one there from the west coast) and then someone noticed the lights swaying on the underside of the structure.  “Was that an earthquake?” 

Yep – he was shocked that I was worried about him.  “I didn’t even know what it was at first – I almost missed it.”  Was his response to my text message to call or text ASAP. 

I texted his step brother up in New York shortly after I found out about the tremor and he said it felt like a subway train going by – except he wasn’t near the subway.  He was not worried at all about Tom – said it was a really light quake and everything was fine.

So, today when I hear there was actually some damage in Washington DC and surrounding areas, I’m wondering if that little quake did that – what would a bigger one do?  Here I sit on the New Madrid fault – well, ok, I’m close – so I looked up what to do in the event of an earthquake.

Stay inside – now, I can understand if I’m in a tall building – I wouldn’t get out before the shaking stopped but if I’m in my house – I’m getting the heck outta there!  They say that more people are hurt by falling debris but I will take my chances with debris rather than be buried alive under the rubble! 

There are some tips on things to do NOW to prepare – such as bolting bookcases, heavy picture and other heavy furniture to the wall, replacing gas and water lines with flexible lines so that there is less chance of a break and fire or flood, see more suggestions here:  http://www.fema.gov/hazard/earthquake/eq_during.shtm

And for those of you on the East Coast – (you probably already know this but) here is what FEMA says about Hurricanes:              http://www.fema.gov/hazard/hurricane/index.shtm

One flew out of the nest

My youngest son leaves for college today.  He will be caravanning up to Northwest Missouri State University with his best friend Ben and Ben’s parents in a couple of hours.  They were supposed to leave about 5:00 so I would be home before he left but Ben’s mom took the afternoon off so that they could leave early.  A good plan since it takes about 5-6 hours to drive up there from St. Louis but that meant that I didn’t get my hug this morning before I left for work.

They boy was up early enough but he and his girlfriend (yes, he now says she is his girlfriend) went out for breakfast at 5:30 before she had to be at school at 7:00.  So I had him meet me for lunch and I got my hug then.

That’s two out and two to go…. Sigh…. This parenting thing is hard.

Something new

Growing up in the Midwest, I have been aware of thunderstorms and the possibility of tornados all my life.  I’ve even gone to the basement a few times when a tornado was spotted nearby.  But I’ve never thought much about hurricanes.  We live too far from the ocean to have the damage that they get – yes, we get the rain sometimes if it comes up the golf and rides the Mississippi River up toward St. Louis but by the time it gets here, it’s just another storm but usually just rain.

This morning I was perusing the news and saw that the east coast is under a watch for Hurricane Irene.  Now usually I would note this and move on but today I have a son stationed at Ft. Lee Virginia so I checked the possible path of the storm.  Yep – it could get that far north.  I’m sure the base is prepared for such things and he may even get to use some of that training if the storm is bad enough in helping the local community but I’m hoping it doesn’t come to that.

I sent him a text (which he will probably not get until tonight) about it.  I’m sure by now the base is watching the weather too.  I’m just glad he’s not still in South Carolina at basic – they will get hit much harder than Virginia according to the projected path.  I guess I’ll be watching the Atlantic storms this fall just like a do the storms in the middle of the country in the spring.

Progress on ‘the barn’

Bill has started putting the hardwood floor down in the shop:

We got this hard wood at Lumber Liquidators for $.87 a square foot.  It’s utility grade which means it has some holes, some scratches, some missing tongues in the tongue and groove and a lot of short pieces.  But for the shop – it’s perfect and I may even put it upstairs depending on how it looks once it’s stained and finished.  I like it so far.

What's Cookin?

No veggy cube this week either – they just don’t have enough variety right now. So, I’m going back to some old recipes and some new ones. We will be going up to Maryville, MO on Saturday and coming back on Sunday – Erik is moving into his dorm on Thursday (but leaving on Wednesday night :(   ) so I am hoping that they are all moved in and know what they need by Saturday. :)

Monday: Tuna Casserole
Tuesday: Chicken stir fry
Wednesday: Chicken pot pie (leftovers from stir fry)
Thursday: Crisp coated fish (ww) w/ potatoes and salad
Friday: Beef stuff cabbage
Saturday: out of town
Sunday: out of town

Iphone autocorrect needs to be smacked!

My Iphone insists on correcting some words that I don’t want corrected!  I wish it worked more like spell checker – it will give you the suggestion and you can take it or leave it.  Most of the time I like that it corrects my fat finger mistakes and sometimes actual spelling mistakes but when I want to spell Dierburgs – that is what I want.  Not Diet Urga – what the heck is Diet Urga anyway?

“The Mongolian capital Urga sat on the banks of the Tuul River in the bowl of a valley formed by the four mountain peaks of Bogdo Ul, Songino Khairkhan, Chingeltei and Bayanzurh, all part of the Khan Khentui range. The town was founded in 1639 but suitably for the capital of a nomadic nation only settled in its current location in the central east of the country, a pivotal position on the old

Tea Road

that took overland trade between Peking and St Petersburg, in 1778. Urga was the Russian name for the town. In the Baron’s time the Mongolians knew it as Niislel Khuree (1911-1924); previously they called it Orgoo (1639-1706) and Ikh Khuree (1706-1911).”
(http://www.brightreview.co.uk/ARTICLE-Urga-February-1921.html)

I’m sure the folks in Urga Mongolia don’t all need to be on diets – and what they have to do with a grocery store chain in Missouri is beyond me but Iphone has decided that they are inexplicitly linked.  So, I have to type Dierburgss and then go back and erase the last s.  It still sits there staring at me with its red underline but I have triumphed over the Iphone!  I am woman, hear me type!

Drama

A couple of nights ago Aubri wanted to go to the mall to get yoga pants.  I had just gotten home from the weekend and all I wanted to do was shower and relax so I told her later in the week.  Last night I asked her if there was somewhere she wanted to go and she said ‘yes, the mall to get yoga pants.’  So off to the mall we went.

I was under the impression that these pants were $20 - $25 and when we got there I found a sign that said 2 for $26 – great!  I pointed it out to her and she started looking for pants.  I was on the phone at the time so maybe I was distracted but when we got to the checkout line the pants rung up $38 apiece!  Yowza – I asked about the sign and was told that those were specific pants.  I looked at Aubri and told her I was not paying this much for yoga pants. 

She, of course, got mad and told me that I went back on my word… what?  I told her she could buy them with her own money but apparently she didn’t want to spend her own money on them and we left. 

The way I look at it – if she wasn’t willing to spend her own money on them then they weren’t worth it but she's still mad anyway. 

I’m waiting for her to turn 30 so that I get smarter and wiser in these things.  ;)

Comments

Ok, so I am still trying to figure this place out.  I usually like to keep my comments section on my dashboard cleaned up so that I know when I get a new comment and when it's an old one.  (I'm anal that way I guess - I also keep my inbox clear at work.)  So, when I read a comment, I like to be able to delete them out of the comment box (inbox I like to think of it) but if I do, it disapears from the post.  AGHH!

I don't want to delete comments from the posts.  I think I did this once when I first started (I don't think it deleted the comment from the post but I'm not sure I ever checked it) but I can't figure out how to do it now. 

HELP?

Yogurt and diet Update

Yesterday I posted about the Greek yogurt that I tried – Chobani.  I had tried the blueberry and complained that it was grainy and tart.  Today I have a strawberry and banana which is not as grainy and much sweeter – I think it’s the banana.  Since the banana is such a smooth texture I think it has smoothed out the yogurt and bananas are super sweet so that makes it much more palatable.

Now, if we could get the points plus value back down to 3 points instead of 4 – this is a low fat yogurt and yesterdays was nonfat which might also add to the creaminess of today’s selection but adds that one point to the total.

BTW, I weighed in last night at Weight Watchers and have now lost a total of 40.2 pounds – Woot!  That was my goal for this week since I go to the doctor on Friday for my fall check in and I know she will be pleased.  I’m hoping that she takes the high blood pressure meds away and maybe cuts the cholesterol meds in half – now that would be a sweet success.  J

Buying a baseball glove

Last night I have to say I had a one of a kind experience buying a baseball glove.  Now, I’ve bought a few baseball and softball gloves in my time but last night was the first time that it took 3 people, two cell phones and 1 hour!

Let me back up a minute and give you the background on this.  Tom is currently in Virginia at AIT.  His battalion gets weekends off but they don’t get to go off base.  So they find things to do to keep themselves busy and in shape.  Specifically sports. 

Tom called last week wanting us to send his baseball glove to him as they were planning a game on Sunday.  His glove is buried in with all the rest of his stuff in the shed down at the property.  First off I was not going to make it down there until the weekend and second it was too damn hot to go crawling around the shed looking for a baseball glove.  Fortunately, for him the game got changed to an ultimate Frisbee game and later a football game both of which he gladly joined in (he was the captain of the ultimate team in high school.)

So the game was rescheduled for this coming weekend.  Tom called to see if we would buy a new glove (using his money of course) and send it to him.  He was very specific in what he wanted – Rawlings, 12 inch.  Seems his old glove was about done anyway and he needed a new one so off Erik and I went to Johnny Macs sporting goods to look at gloves.

When I first entered the store I found the gloves right away near the door, but no Rawlings.  I looked and looked and found not a Rawlings glove in the bunch.  There were plenty of Mizuno, Wilson, and TPX brands but no Rawlings.  Erik and I hunted around and found a reasonably nice one in his price range so I called Tom.  I explained that we couldn’t find any Rawlings gloves but Erik had found a Wilson that might do.  Erik took a picture and sent it to him while I stayed on my phone and talked. 

Tom checked out the picture and said it would do so while still on the phone, Erik and I started to wander around the store a bit.  We found a clearance rack – and there was a Rawlings glove.  So we took another picture and sent it to him.  He wasn’t fond of it but it might work.  Then we wandered further and found the Rawlings gloves… an entire section of them!  So, we started the search all over again. 

We discovered that I have an uncanny knack for finding left handed gloves – seems that almost every glove I picked up was a lefty.  Tom is not left handed.  Finally I found one that I would have liked and sent a picture despite the fact that Erik didn’t like it as well.  Guess which glove Tom chose… mine.  *tee hee* 

So an hour later, two cell phones and 3 people – Tom has a new glove.  Now I just have to ship it to him at lunch time today.

Greek Yogurt

Recently there has been a boom in the yogurt industry, specifically in the ‘GREEK YOGURT’ industry.  I looked up Greek Yogurt in Wikipedia and here is what I found:

“Strained yogurt, yogurt cheese, labneh, or Greek yogurt is yogurt which has been strained in a cloth or paper bag or filter to remove the whey, giving a consistency between that of yogurt and cheese, while preserving yogurt's distinctive sour taste….. Due to the straining process to remove excess whey, even non-fat varieties are rich and creamy.”

I beg to differ.  I have tried Greek yogurt several times now including last weekend at Costco where they were giving away samples.  Unfortunately, they have to add honey to the samples to make them palatable.  That should give you a clue.

Erik has decided that he wants to start eating healthier and in a recent trip to the grocery he decided to try Greek Yogurt.  The particular brand that he bought was Chobani the strawberry and banana flavor specifically.  He brought it home and opened it up.  Like a lot of yogurts on the market, the fruit is on the bottom so you have to stir it up.  The consistency of the yogurt on the top is very grainy and when combined with the fruit is still too grainy for my taste. 

I tasted the yogurt that he had and it was not too tart so I decided to try buying other flavors.  The blueberry is very tart and I had to add some stevia to make it palatable.  I’m still not happy with the graininess of it – I don’t see where the terms “rich and creamy’ come from.

Chobani’s own website boasts that their product is ‘rich and creamy’ as well.  They may be rich, but certainly not creamy.  Yoplait has creamy yogurt – even the light.  I think I’ll switch back.

What's Cookin?

No veggie cube this week – they are putting the same corn and tomatoes in every week and I’m getting tired of it.  So, I plan to hit the farmer’s market on Saturday morning to see what I can find.

Monday:           Patty Pan Squash.  I think I’ll try frying it with garlic and onion and then sprinkling a bit of parmesan on when it’s done.  Chicken – If we have some bourbon chicken in the freezer, I’ll have that otherwise, I may have to fry some.

Tuesday:           Pulled Pork at Martha’s house and I’ll bring Tri color Pesto Rotini (WW)

Wednesday:     Layered Mexican Chicken (WW) and Green beans with Caramelized onions (WW)

Thursday:         Green bean, pearl onion and dill frittata (WW using leftover green beans from Wednesday)

Friday:              Tilapia, wild Rice, broccoli, Carrots

Saturday:          Stuffed Squash/Zucchini (Using left over rice, veggies and ground turkey to stuff)

Sunday:            Salmon, mashed potatoes, green beans or whatever fresh veggies I find at the farmer’s market.

Weekend Roundup

Bill came up on Thursday with the trailer to haul some of the stuff in the garage and/or basement down to the house to store.  First, it was supposed to rain on Friday so there was no loading up the trailer and getting everything wet but we did manage to clean out the computer room and load most of that in the back of the truck where it would be covered.  I can now get to my desk to work on Fridays!  Woot!  Second, we would not have been able to unload the trailer of stuff until we had rearranged the shed to put it all in (lack of planning on Bill’s part there ;) so pulling the trailer up was really a mute point.

Friday is my work from home day so most of this loading took place on Friday.  While this was going on we got some bad news – a friend of our passed into the Summerland unexpectedly (at least to us).  Apparently he had had some health issues that caused this.  Godspeed my friend.

Bill really wanted to leave on Friday night instead of Saturday because he wanted to look at my Escape and see what was making a noise.  So despite the fact that I wanted to go to the O’Fallon Farmers Market on Saturday morning to get more Goat Milk Soap and the fact that he pulled the trailer up to St. Louis for nothing – we left Friday night.  I gave money and a list to Erik so that he could go to the Farmers Market in the morning and get my soap (which he did – Oh delicious!) 

So Saturday morning we got up early so that Bill could go check on my car.  I puttered around the house a bit and watched a few episodes of Star Gate Universe the final season until he returned to tell me that my car was great!  John (who had completed the body work from the deer episode) had checked out the noise as well and determined that it was my brakes (which are brand new) making the noise.  I guess that happens sometimes.  I’ll keep an ear on it and see if it goes away.

So we ended up going to the Farmer’s Market in Fredericktown instead where I bought a Patty Pan Squash.  I haven’t tried it yet but it looks very interesting.  I think I might do something with it tonight for dinner.  Anyway, Justin and Jennifer (Bill’s son and daughter-in-law) were supposed to be coming for dinner that evening about 4:00 so we got our errands done in town and came back to the property so that Bill could finish putting pot lights up in the shop and getting a switch in.

Justin called about 2:30 to tell us that they were still in Rolla, MO.  They had borrowed Jennifer’s Dad’s little trailer to haul some furniture home and they had just finished loading it so it would be a couple hours before they got home.  Bill decided to push back starting the grill for the steaks until about 4:00.  As these things usually go, he decided to start the grill about 3:45 instead, so when he went out at 4:15 to check on the coals his phone rang – Justin and Jennifer were stuck in St. James, MO – the wheel on the trailer they were hauling home had broken and was trying to come off! 

Good thing we had not put the steaks on the grill yet – I turned the fire off under the corn that I had just put on and we loaded up to take the big trailer over to St. James to bring the little trailer home on.  I should have taken pictures – it looked very funny once they got the little trailer full of furniture loaded up on the big trailer and tied down!  By the time we got that done, we were hungry, it was about 7:00 and there was no way we were going to have steak for dinner on Saturday night.  So we ended up eating at Burger King in St. James and got home about 10:00!

The kids decided that they could come for Sunday dinner instead.  It was a beautiful day – in the 70’s so we sat out under the tree in the back yard and Bill grilled steaks and mushrooms.  Noah (Justin and Jennifer’s 4 year old son) ran all over the back yard with the dogs and a good time was had by all.

So the weekend didn’t end up quite as it had been planned but everything worked out ok in the end.

Oh and I heard from Tom on Saturday.  The General did an inspection of the barracks and out of 300 in his battalion; he was one of the top 10 that got an award from the General for excellence.  The three dogs are actually wolves and represent his battalion.

Now considering what his room used to look like at home… this is quite the change for him!  LOL!  I guess this army thing has taught him not only to eat his vegetables but to keep his room clean too!  ;)

Tattler Lids

Has anyone used Tattler Lids?  Here is the website:  http://www.reusablecanninglids.com/  I had a friend of mine tell me about these last night and they sound a lot better than having to buy new lids every year for canning.  I just want to know if anyone has used them and what they thought of them?

*SIGH*

Why is it that 15/16 year old girls can’t make up their mind about anything?  Last week Aubri was playing softball for the high school, this week she’s not.  Of course this week is when practice started.  I am jumping to a conclusion when I say that this turn of events started after her ‘boyfriend’ came over on Saturday.  If he told her not to play I will tell him to take a long walk off a short pier!  NO BOY TELLS MY DAUGHTER WHAT TO DO!!!

Now, I may be all wet but still – she is wasting a lot of talent.  Last year she was the only freshman on the Varsity team at school.  There weren’t even any sophomores!  You have to be good to get that kind of attention.  I was hoping for scholarships.  Her brothers are upset with her for quitting too.  They all wanted to play varsity in high school and they were cut.  She’s just throwing it away!

*Sigh*

Happy Anniversary

Three years ago today Bill and I were handfasted.

This is one of my favorite pictures from the handfasting.  Not only is it an 'Awwwww' pic but our very good friend Cretta is smiling on in the background.  We lost Cretta about 6 months after this was taken.

Doesn't he look handsom in his kilt!

Lovely memories for a lovely day.  :)

What's Cookin

I've been trying to get this up for a couple of days and I just keep getting interupted.  So, here we are almost half way through the week already!

Monday:  Chicken wraps (grilled chicken, avacodo, light mayo and lettuce - yummy!
Tuesday:  El Maguey
Wednesday:  Fried Chicken with Down home gravy (Miss Hullings favorite recipes*)
Thursday:  Beef mushroom casserole (Miss Hullings favorite recipes*)
Friday:  New Orleans Red Beans and Rice (WW)
Saturday:  Steak, mushrooms, corn on the cob
Sunday:  Pan Fried Tilapia with white wine sauce (WW)

* Last weekend Bill and I were over at his friend Dorothy's house.  Dorothy is 87 and still living on her own back in the woods without indoor plumbing!  She is a hardy lady and just plain fun to be around.  She gave me a couple of her cookbooks since she doesn't do a lot of cooking just for herself.  Miss Hullings favorite recipes was one of her favorite cookbooks when she was a cook at a restaraunt in Farmington.  This was 20 some years ago and Bill remembers he and Marty used to go there for dinner once in a while just because Dorothy was cooking!  So, I got out the book on Sunday and went through it  - lots of great recipes, I can see why it was her favorite.  I'm so honored to have it.

Eating Plums Part II

I have not figured out when the exact right time to eat a plum is.  I have been getting plums in my fruit cube for a few months now and they are either too tart and hard (not yet ripe I’m thinking) or squishy and well, I just don’t want to go there!  I’ve not been able to figure out just how this works.  I think I may give up on the plums all together and donate them all to my friend’s chickens – they seem to like them either way.

Graduation at Ft. Jackson SC

We have spent the last week in South Carolina with Tom for his graduation from basic training.  We had decided to fly since it was faster and we could all go together in relative comfort (unlike a car where we have a smoker that would want to stop at every rest area!)   So we got up at 5:30AM (yes that’s in the morning just barely after the sun came up) and Bill took us to the airport.  For a while the kids were very excited…

But then the reality of the early morning hour set in……

Our plane was on time and we boarded and headed off into the sunrise toward Atlanta.  Once we got to Atlanta we had about an hour and a half scheduled layover waiting for our plane to Columbia SC.  Unfortunately, we ended up waiting for over 3 hours for our flight – most of it in the airport but about 45 minutes in the plane at the gate and another 30 on the runway waiting to take off!  It was frustrating to say the least.  Once we got to Columbia (about 6:00 local time) we found somewhere to eat dinner and then to bed – it really wasn’t any faster to fly but we did get to walk around more than we would have in a car so it was worth flying.

Wednesday morning we got up about 6:45 to eat, dress, and fight traffic out to the base.  We arrived about 30 minutes before the presentation which stated at 9:00.  We finally got to see our soldier and then to actually spend some time with him on base.

Unfortunately, Tom had a cold and was feeling pretty lousy all day so we spent a lot of time looking for somewhere cool to sit – which ended up being the car most of the time.  We went to the museum on base …..

We attended the dinner for his company that afternoon.  The food was ok but really not much to write home about.  I can say that the army had taught Tom to eat vegetables though so that alone may be worth it!  J   We spent the last few hours in the rec center where they had games set up.  Aubri liked the shooting games best...

We had to drop him off at his barracks at 8:45 so he could be ready for formation at 9:00.

Next morning we got up early again so that we could be at graduation at 9:00.  The ceremony lasted about 35 minutes then we had to try to find him at the far end of the field in the chaos that was 600 soldiers all looking for their families!  We found him and were able to take him off base then for the day.

We celebrated his birthday (which was actually Saturday) at TGI Fridays and then took in a movie – Harry Potter since he had not seen it yet.  Then we chilled out at the hotel and ordered pizza then he packed his laundry that I had done for him the night before.

We had to have him back at 8:45 again but we stayed for formation this time and I think the drill sergeant cleaned up the language a bit for us.  J  Then back to the hotel where the kids went swimming for a while before we went to bed.  Austen was in a good mood and I caught him being silly…

Next morning we were going to get up early to go to the ocean which was only 2 hours away but it was supposed to rain all day and the kids decided they would rather sleep in.  So about 10:00 I woke them up and said we needed to get packed up and eat.  Then we say Cowboys and Aliens before catching our plane back to Atlanta.  I’ve decided I don’t ever want to go through Atlanta again- they are always delayed!  We were only delayed 30 minutes this time but still – when you want to get home it’s very frustrating to keep getting delayed!

Bill picked us up at the airport in St. Louis about 9:30pm.  Home! 

While we were in SC, Bill put tile down on the floor of my bathroom….

We will have to repaint as soon as we can but the old paint will need to be sanded down first because the guy who did it just glopped it on and there are big drops that need to be knocked down and smoothed out first.  That will probably be a fall project when it cools down a bit.

Aubri goes back to school on Monday (and Tom starts his training on Monday at Ft. Lee Virginia) but Erik doesn’t leave for school until August 25^th.  This weekend is tax free weekend so we went shopping for school clothes and supplies.  Between the tax free weekend and the discount I had at Kohls, we did really well for Aubri.  Erik is out shopping right now so we’ll see how well he did when he gets home.

Later this afternoon I need to sit down and make out my menu for next week – I am not looking forward to getting on the scale this Tuesday – I didn’t do well on the diet while we were in SC – it’s hard to plan ahead when you don’t know what you will have available.  I did the best I could but I did splurge a bit once or twice – I looked at it as being on vacation, you are supposed to splurge a little on vacation!  J

Update

I'm posting this from my phone so it will be short and sweet. Wesawtom this weeks da she is now on his way to Virginia. Will catch our plane at 5 this afternoon more when I get home.

Text Conversation with my daughter

Aubri:  “I started making that fondue stuff & it made the whole house smell like feet, just an fyi”

Me:  LOL!

Aubri: “You laugh now, just wait til you smell it!”

She's always posting funny things I say on Facebook - so guess where this one went!  ;)

Weekend Roundup

It's been HOT HOT HOT here in St. Louis and as I drove south this weekend to the country place it just kept getting hotter!  The grass is fried at my house - it's all brown and hasn't grown an inch since Bill mowed it 2 WEEKS AGO!  I met Bill on our road when I got down there; he was on his way from his house to the 'barn' on the mule.  So back to the house we went to unpack my car and then we hopped back on the mule and up to the 'barn' not many changes that were picture worthy - he has the trench filled back in, power inside, and several lights up so that he can work at night (cooler that way).  It was thundering a bit so we decided to head back up to the house and get the truck to go into town for groceries.  Unfortunately, nothing ever came of the rain - at least not at our place.

Saturday morning we decided to get up and go garage saleing before it got too hot.  I think everyone else decided that it was too hot to start so we never saw any sales in Fredericktown and just a few hardy souls in Farmington.  But mostly it was clothes and kids stuff - neither of what we were looking for.  So we poked around in a junk store for a while then on toward the St. Francis County fair.  I had never been to this fair and Bill said he had not been in years.  As we pulled up to the gate I was soooo disappointed.  The entire fair fit on the football field!  Rides, animal barns, crafts everything - we decided that it wasn't worth $6 apiece to get in and went to lunch instead!

After lunch as we were on our way to Wal-Mart to pick up a few things it started to rain.  Beautiful big luscious drops of rain splattering the windshield!  Oh and it cooled down.  In the Wal-mart parking lot we saw lots of folks running to their cars but this one lady just made me burst out laughing!

She has a Wal-Mart bag over her head!  I saw her coming out of the store with it positioned so only her eyes and nose were sticking out of where she had tied it on.  I laughed so hard I thought I was going to pee my pants!  I had to get a picture - she was parked just a few spots over from us and I couldn't get her as she put her groceries in the back of her car (adjusting the bag every few seconds as it kept moving around on her) so I got her as she put the cart away.   LOL!

The rain was much needed and appreciated but it brought the muggies in afterward.  We pretty much puttered around the homestead all afternoon and evening.  Then Sunday Bill loaded his truck up with tools and brought me back home.  I'm leaving my car down at his place so that his neighbor can fix it.  John has a body shop right there at Bill's house and after he painted my back door a few weeks ago, he still has paint to match!  So the deer damage will be fixed this week while we are in South Caroline for Tom's graduation.  Bill will be staying at the house to take care of the animals and to put the tile down in my bathroom! Woo Hoo!! 

So, tonight I have to go home and pack for the trip to SC.  We are going to try to carry on our bags (I think backpacks will work fine) so that we don't have to worry about loosing anything on the flight and I'm cheap - it cost $25 per bag ($35 if you have two) per person to check your luggage!  That would be an additional $100 for us to fly - no thanks; we'll just pack clothes and use the hotel's shampoo and soap.  I told the boys we can go to Wal-Mart and get disposable razors if they feel the need to shave while we are there.

The cool thing is I think we will have time to go to the ocean on Friday before our flight out!  The kids were all excited about that last night when I talked to them about it.  So, I may or may not be able to update while I'm there (we will have Tom's laptop with us) but I will have pictures when I get back.  :)