The Power of Pine-Sol

OK so I thought everyone on Gods Green Earth burned a lil bit of pine-sol on their stove….

I grew up with papa(God Rest His Soul) pouring some pine sol in a pan and puttin it on the wood burning stove-those days are forever branded into my senses…

Then my bestie accussed me of tryin to get her high with the scent of pine-sol…NO really she had to go outside(light-weight…j/k love ya bestie)

So I get my handy dandy pine-sol pan(reserved especially for pine-sol burning occasions) and I fill it about 1/4 of the way full with water then I pour in some pine-sol just till the water turns white-ish then I crank up the heat on the stove-this burning scent does many things

1)drives mr gp CRAZY

2)burns mr gp’s eyes till he has to go outside for fresh air

2 & 1/2)makes my bestie accuse me of getting her high

3)mr gp HATES anything and everything I burn from candles,incense to pine-sol-so ignore 1 & 2

4)completely disinfects my counters and cabinets

5)disinfects all door handles,toliet handles and toliet seats

6)cleans my floors with the left over in the pan

7)it completely cleans my microwave

8)makes me feel like all air-borne germs have been irraticated

9)the beans are rarely sick and I give all credit to pine-sol & maybe my gaylord poster

10)that’s how I roll….

Apparently it’s a country thang to burn pine-sol on the stove but I LOVE the clean scent of pine-sol!

My Confession for today:my bestie is now burning pine-sol and NOT for the contact high! 

We are going on Vacation…

Nothing like waiting till the last minute to plan your summer vacation, huh? For the record, “not how I roll” For the record how I roll is… planning months ahead of time,making sure I got the BEST deal for my or errrmmm mr gp’s money

Our summer vacation plans have changed SO many times that I was startin to feel sorry for the beans-aside from a few minor mishaps(mishaps=me being mortified that I was their mom, but hey who’s countin? just kiddin….sorta) they have been very good beans,who deserved a summer vacation.

We are goin to Branson, why? Because gas is almost $4 a gallon and we needed some place within a 3-4 hr drive to be able to afford a vacation-our previous trip to Branson has been down Indian Point Rd and we really didn’t venture into Branson proper….this year I must be CRAZY because we are staying on the strip!

Well, when you wait until the very last(we are talking 2 weeks away) minute to plan something AND you would think in a town with so many motels/hotels/cabins/condos/A-frames etc…finding what you need,even if it is last minute wouldn’t be that hard,but with a family of 5 and 3 of the 5 aren’t so little anymore(OK so the/us “other” 2 aren’t so little anymore either-suck-it!), a 2bed motel/hotel just doesn’t quite cut it! We need space,we need something that offers more than just a swimming pool,we need the flashing lights of the strip to keep these beans who are sometimes easily bored,entertained…

So middle bean gets out his laptop-yeah he is soooo cool, he bought a laptop with his B-Day $$$(I don’t even have a laptop…pfffft) and he finds this CLICK HERE and he is so completely enticed by all these amenities:

* Free Full 50 item Hot Breakfast * Dick Clark’s American Bandstand Theater On Site * 22 Acres Park Like Setting * 2 Great Pools (seasonal) * ‘57 Heaven Car Museum On Site * Heart of Branson Location * Game Room * Discounted Show Tickets with Preferred Seating * Free Wireless Internet Access * Pet Friendly Hotel - $15 per night * Basketball Court * Horse Shoe Pits * Volley Ball Court * Pool Table * Dining and Shopping * Concierge * Express Checkout * Fishing nearby * Free Parking on-site * Free Local Telephone Calls * Golf nearby * Hairdryer in Room * Meeting & Banquet Facilities * No Smoking Rooms * Free Newspaper * RV and Truck Parking * Guest Laundry * Surrounded by shows, restaurants, and family activities. * DVD & VCRs Available * Expanded Fitness Center * VIP Floor and Suites Available * Special “Area 57″ View Rooms Available * Shuffle Board * Jaccuzi Suites Available * Children’s Playground * Mini Golf on site

NOW before you all go WOW let me just say this property hasn’t gotten the best reviews on trip advisor BUT they do have 2 pools, one with a slide and diving board and game room according to middle bean AND they have a pool table which mr gp will throughly enjoy.

So I call wanting a deluxe queen suite-meaning 2 queen beds and a sleeper sofa-it says these rooms are 40% larger than a standard hotel room and they are in the remodeled building-welp they only have the deluxe room open for one night-then we would have to pack up and oh gawd MOVE to another smaller queen size room-Angie was more than accommodating and I said “let me think on this and I will call you back”-well I called her back 3 more times and she finally said “let me transfer you to Jake”….

Jake worked his magic(I promise I didn’t whine to much-just tryin to keep the beans happy) and got us a deluxe queen suite with sleeper sofa for all 4 nights @$75-some will prolly say we paid too much BUT I am deciding to reserve judgement until we arrive,especially since the property seems to offer so much, the breakfast buffet(included in room rate)boasts 50 items,a basketball court,horseshoes,shuffle board and pool with diving board & slide, oh good grief the beans will be in heaven! See, we are the “rare” few who when on vacation actually spend time at the hotel-don’t get me wrong we will venture out,I mean cold stone creamery is right across the street….the beans LOVE Cold Stone Creamery-what I am tryin to say is I am a  timeshares dream prospect-because I “buy” into all the hoopla, BUT NO timeshares this trip!

We are planning on Silver Dollar City and possibly Celebration City… along with the fact I did NOT inherit daddies passion for riding horses I also did not inherit a passion for rides so all the extras that the Ramada resort promises, are… well promising. My idea of a vacation is well lounging by the pool while the cabana boy brings me all kindsa exotic drinks,I didn’t see anything in the amenities list about a cabana boy but I can deal with no cabana boy if the beans are happy. We will prolly do a visit to the Tracks where you can do go carts and maybe some putt putt,the beans wanna ride the ducks but I am such a chicken and there is prolly a watch list of some sort for the ride the ducks that the airlines pass down,meaning I wouldn’t be admited, ya see for those of you just joining in this lil thang I like to call a blog, I am certain, I am on the U.S. Terrorist watch list…

I have my list of places I wanna eat at like Danna’s BBQ, still deciding on a Mexican restaurant of choice maybe El Portal,Cantina Laredo or Elenitas Mexican Cafe,we have never been to Mels Hard Luck Diner and of course Branson now has “The Landing” which I can only imagine screams to the beans of “take all your parents money” “TAKE IT NOW”

I Like my relaxing trips to Eureka Springs and don’t think for one second I wasn’t saying let’s go to Eureka but that’s kinda like a mr gp and me or a beans and me trip-summer vacations for us are always crazy so why should this year be any different? Especially since we are insane and stayin on the strip-I may come home divorced-mr gp HATES sittin in traffic-esgirl where are ya? I need travel tips to save my marriage…

My confession for today: I need to find me a black diamond watermelon-I am craving them and no I am NOT preggers

Waitress

I have been in a movie renting mood lately-I rarely go to the movie theater-I prefer the comfort of my home,where I can lounge in my PJ’s,snuggled up in my bed and drink a spirit if I so choose and I like the fact that if I gotta pee during the movie I can hit the pause button, Plus I am frugal and pay .99 cents-$3 to rent a movie.

Some movies that I have recently rented include but are not limited too(I always wanted to say that)

27 Dresses-it was Ok, oldest bean loved it

P.S. I Love You-I adored this movie(hopefully someone will buy it for me for my B-Day)

The Bucket List-LOVE Jack & Morgan but the movie was kinda slow for me

Atonement-I enjoyed the movie

We Own the Night-very good

American Gangster-I am a Denzel fan

Gone Baby Gone-SUPER-GREAT Movie

I am Legend-I hated this movie-please don’t stone me

National treasure 2:Book of Secrets-decent, but not nearly as good as the first

I am not a professional movie critic(I just play one on this blog) and I do understand movies are very subjective to ones likes and dislikes. I unfortunately compare most movies to As Good As It Gets-that movie has it all…a few other movies I can watch over and over are Shakespeare in Love,Shawn of the Dead,Under the Tuscan Sun and ummm Armageddon -I still to this day do not get Napoleon Dynamite-”GOSH”

So last night I rented the movie “Waitress” which was written and directed by the late Adrienne Shelly-she also plays Dawn in the movie,along with Keri Russell,Cheryl Hines,Jeremy Sisto,Nathan Fillion and Andy Griffith rounding out the stellar cast. Keri Russell plays Jenna, who works in a diner, in a small town and makes these heavenly pies that she so aptly names after happenings/events in her life, like:

• I Don’t Want Earl’s Baby Pie 
• Kick In The Pants Pie

• I Hate My Husband Pie 

• Baby Screaming It’s Head Off In The Middle Of The Night And Ruining My Life Pie 

• Earl Murders Me Because I’m Having An Affair Pie 

• I Can’t Have No Affair Because It’s Wrong And I Don’t Want Earl To Kill Me Pie

• Pregnant Miserable Self Pitying Loser Pie

 She(Jenna) longs to escape her one-sided marriage and she thinks she found her escape in the form of a pie contest…In my humble opinion I thought her means of escape ended up being in the form of Nathan Fillion(Dr Pommater) who awoke something inside Jenna-their scenes together made me laugh and cry and while she never allowed herself to be happy about her pregnancy, the birth of her daughter became the means for which she finally stood up for herself…Andy Griffith’s portrayal of Old Joe is poignant and beautiful.

 I won’t say this was the best movie I have seen, what I will say is,it was one of the BETTER movies I have rented in awhile.

My Confession for Today: I am going to make a pie right now…a pizza pie…yum yum

Mangosteen or XanGo™

Touted as “The Queen of Fruits” but more on that later…

My daddy, it seems has been in every single pyramid scheme there has ever been-I remember him saying one time ”he lost his butt in amway” so now after all these years Why oh Why is he so enamoured with this “Mangosteen juice”?

Well, he saw a sign on someones truck and decided to visit with this gent about Mangosteen-what this guy told him, sent daddy into a tailspin-the promise of $money$ that can be made, the healing powers of the juice and he is informed this is NOT a pyramid scheme/MLM(I have yet to see proof of that-but I won’t judge). Thats all it took for daddy to be hooked-line-n-sinker, well and the fact it only costs $35 to join.

Let me tell you a few things about daddy:

He is NOT materialistic in any way shape or form

He is a simple,country man-remember we had oil lamps for light,pulled our water from a well and had a cb radio for a phone in the 70’s-Thank goodness he has moved into the more modern of times

He lives to ride his horse’s-a passion I did NOT inherit

Don’t expect a phone conversation with him to last more than 2-3 mins UNLESS it is mangosteen related

He doesn’t care what anyone thinks of him

He is the way he is and I love him all the more because of, not in-spite of…

So he will tell anyone who will listen about this juice,I mean complete strangers-sometimes it is hard for me to witness this,because in our skeptical society no one likes rejection,but it doesn’t even phase daddy-he just moves down the road to the next person and starts all over again. I stand in amazement-I would be crushed beyond belief but not daddy…

Does he know something I don’t? Am I missing the bigger picture? Personally, I think the juice is expensive,especially for a family of five,but, if it has all the healing powers it claims, how could one put a dollar amount on ones health? There are lots of supposed success stories from people with diabetes to lupus being cured from drinking the juice.

The Queen of Fruits-has something called xanthones which according to the website (http://www.xango.com/learn/index.html) is a vigorous family of next–generation phytonutrients(pronounced-fy toe NOO tree ents). I had to look up that word: medicinenet.com says, phytonutrients mean-the active health protecting…Ok so it is obvious these words and the meanings are way over my head, and since God hasn’t given me ”Divine Information” on this subject I do what any gal with to much time on her hands does… I google…because thats how I roll….  

I found this website http://chetday.com/mangosteen.htm and I read what Chet had to say, then I read what some of his readers had to say http://chetday.com/mangosteenletters.htm There are, like with so many new “cur-alls” the believers and the non-believers-I am on the fence about this one-I have had a swig of the juice and it does taste very good-I just haven’t had an extra $100 laying around to try the juice for any length of time,ena has been drinking it and she seems to have gained some extra energy and of course daddy has been drinking it.

My Confession for Today: I just saw on the news that Orange Juice is over $10 a gallon in Hawaii-Oh and if you want to try the “juice” I can put you in contact with Daddy… 

Happy Birthday Middle Bean

Thirteen years ago right about this time I was laying in a hospital bed on the labor & delivery floor saying nawww I don’t need the epidural let me wait a lil longer…I waited one whole contraction longer!

The births of my beans were all inductions,short and pretty easy, with oldest bean I never even felt a contraction, Dr. Thompson never wanted his mommies to be in any pain. So when we went in to have middle bean, I wanted to live on the wild side for just one moment and actually feel what all the hoopla was about, once I was dilated to a 3 the Dr says I could have the epi,but silly me says noooo I can wait a lil longer, pfffft! What was I thinking? I am a WEE-NEE,a wuss,a baby when it comes to pain and we won’t mention what happens when I eat a bug…

So the epidural arrives and a few pushes later so does middle bean. I can honestly say that the births of my beans were 3 of the happiest days of my life. Weighing in at 9lbs 1oz, 21inches long and at the very least 10days early, Lord only knows how big middle bean coulda been if I went into labor on my own…God Bless Dr. Thompson and his views on induction…

At that time we had double insurance so we opted for the “High Roller” of hospital suites-which meant we got a huge room with a couch that makes into a bed and extra chairs for all those visitors, a surf N turf & champagne dinner but most importantly a very private room.  

We were going to name middle bean Ethan,once we knew we were having a boy and after a few disagreements on boy names like Tucker,Riley,Dalton we had agreed on Ethan. Something I shouldn’t have done is formed this picture of a blond headed baby,because what I got was a red headed,cone shaped-alien headed baby and I just couldn’t name him Ethan-so he was no-name for a few hours until we agreed on Reese.

Something else I shouldn’t have done is ever compared middle bean to oldest bean-while their births were pretty similar “they” were not-he had extra parts! I will admit I didn’t and some may say still don’t know very much about boys! I had a horrible experience with trying to get oldest bean to nurse,so when the lactation nurses came in to meet with me, I quickly shooed them away saying nope,no-way,not gonna do it-give him a bottle and politely asked for the milk-dryer-upper-pills-which I found out to my horror, they no longer offer…but but but just a year and a half ago you offered them-no luck! So I prepare myself mentally for adding cabbage to my boobs and try to block out the pain that ima fix’n to endure,yanno when a womans boobs swell up to the size of cantaloupes-that just isn’t normal….

I want you to know that middle bean and I were home sittin in the rocking chair and I get this wild hair-well more like a “let’s just see” if this will work type thing, ya see every-time he cried I felt this “sensation” in my boobs-that would be known as my milk coming in…so I put him up there and I’ll have you know that lil middle bean took right to the boobs and I do what any proud mommie does….I call everyone I know and say he’s a tittie baby,he’s a tittie baby! I’m doing it, no wait, he’s doing it and I am NOT a failure…but wait is he doing it right? I remember reading when I had oldest bean that there is a right way AND a wrong way to latch on…I am only 24 and I dont wanna mess this up,so I call the hospital and they schedule a lactation nurse visit-gotta love the double insurance! I am quickly told he is doing great and what to look for….yippppeeee I did it!

There have been many glorious middle bean moments a few that come to mind…

When he tried to run away from daycare

When he decided to paint the walls AND himself in his poop(yuck I know-just keepin it real…)

The time he used a tampon as a stick for a mask project at school

The time he found a condom(still in the wrapper-THANK GOD)in the neighbors yard and thought it was balloon

His milk-shake video

I could go on and on about middle beans escapades-he is such a funny lil bean and the things that come outta his mouth never cease to amaze me. I am so very proud of him and of course he is the most handsome un-alien-like boy bean in the whole world. He is super smart-too smart for his own britches sometimes and he is my favorite ummm my favorite Reese…I got busted on that a few years back, all 3 beans would ask me “who’s your favorite,mommie?”(why do beans do this?) of course I would say “you are” then one day, as if to conspire against me they *gulp* compared notes and then confronted me. My reply, I didn’t lie to you because you are, well, you are my favorite Jessica and you are my favorite Reese and you are my favorite Abby…. phew 

So my only boy is a finally a teenager, altho’ mr gp says he has been acting like one for some time now…we started “bribing” the beans with a $100 dollar bill a few years ago-it’s not that we don’t like Birthday Parties-it’s just how we roll…I always do a lil gift each day leading up to their Birthday,then I make their favorite dessert(the beans aren’t big cake eaters) middle bean loves fruit,so he will get a fruit tray today,then they get to bring a friend or two out to Birthday dinner,which has me stumped because middle beans choice for dinner is …drum roll please…..A CONCESSION STAND! Now where in the world am I to find a concession stand except at a rodeo-which mr gp refuses to set foot in….wish me luck! 

That’s my boy! Happy Birthday Baby I LOVE You!

My confession for today: I can’t believe middle bean is a teenager-where have the years gone?

New Furniture

There is something indescribable about getting new furniture-whether it’s new or just new to your home. The new addition can change the look of a room instantly…our Den now has a new focal point:

Please forgive the mess I am still trying to re-arrange. The china cabinet is woolly mammoth massive and I am proud to say that moi’ helped mr gp carry this into the house-it does separate in 2 pieces BUT it was still mighty heavy

Here is the tea cart-which I just love. I’m not liking the arrangement yet but it’ll get there…it just looks cluttered

This cabinet holds silver-which I hope one day to fill-the doors swing out and there are 7 drawers to hold Christmas dinner silver

This is the table, all in it’s magical glory it came with 2 leafs and 6 chairs-3 of the chairs need some minor repairs and once thats done we will add one leaf-DYK how exciting this is-I have never owned a table that had a leaf and there is oldest bean patiently waiting for me to get off the pc…inside the pedestal of the table are 2 secret compartments, middle bean wanted to put a book in there like a time capsule

Heres one more of the table again excuse the mess

These chairs are just beautiful-they sit on each side of the fireplace

Thanks to my neighbor I just created a “mood” for the focal point of the room by adding 2 little lamps-the pic is kinda dark but you get the idea

Middle bean says it looks “snazzy” Oldest bean says we need a new house for the “new” furnishings and lilest bean hasn’t seen it yet(she’s still at my sisters house)-but when I told her we got it all set up all she said was “did you get pretty towels?” The furniture is hand carved and numbered and Uncle Tex had a complete household set-I just happen to draw the envelope with the dining set. I figured we could 1)put it in storage until the beans were older OR 2)we could move it in and enjoy it now, after looking around last night and seeing the room with fresh eyes this morning I’m glad we opted for moving it in….

My confession for today: Next time I will pay some strapping young lad to help mr gp move things because my back is not liking me very much today!

Happy Fathers Day

It’s 9:30 am and not a creature is stirring not even a mouse…well ok what I mean is no one is home…mr gp got up at 5:30 to take his dad fishing,oldest and middle bean are at the sperm donors and *tear* lilest bean went to Arkansas yesterday to spend a few days with the floozie, I mean Aunt Becky,Uncle Chad and her 2 cousins.

Lilest bean just called and of course the first words outta my mouth were “I love you & are you ready to come home?” her reply “a lil giggle, I love you too and no mommy” me “ok I was just checkin” she was calling to wish her daddy a happy day…

So to all the Dads,Uncles,Grandpas,Brothers, to any male who may have played a Fatherly role heres wishing you all a

VERY Happy Fathers Day!

My confession for today: I hope mr gp likes his new electric knife & Mad magazine subscription

Let’s take a trip-part 3

WE had a wonderful time in Tombstone but it was time to get back to work…after dinner we started packing and taking down these shell lamps that were anchored into the wall-these shell lamps gave me fits at night almost as much as the grapes of wrath…lemme see if I can find a pic of them

At night those thin lil blue shells would gently CLANK together, due to the ceiling fan creating a breeze in the room-they were put out of their misery as soon as the grapes of wrath were. It took 4 girls to get those suckers down they had huge screws anchored into the ceiling and when we were finished Uncle Tex comes up to us and says “you girls were doing what I like to do best” NOTHING could prepare me for his one word answer “SCREW” told ya, he is one  HOT MESS! 

Sunday night is also the night I decided to have another unbug induced freak-out session…we needed to print out our boarding passes, southwest lets you print 24 hrs before your flight for their open seating policy. Becky and I had gotten A’s on our first 2 flights, meaning we were among the first to board the plane(hey, I like being first-who doesn’t?) and here I was thinking what am I gonna do??? What if I gotta sit in the back of the plane where it’s all kindsa noisy? What if Becky and I are separated farrr apart on the plane? What if the plane crashes and I am in the last row and  see the fiery crash LAST(if I gotta go I wanna be the first one to go!) All these ”what-ifs” flooded my head. I started stressing and packing oriental knick knacks like a mad woman trying to take my mind off things. Finally Michelle says she would drive me to UPS in the morning and use her laptop to hook into a printer and print our boarding passes-whew I felt a lil better.

We are packing and laughing having a good time playing the “you ate it” fart game-I know so childish-but when you are running on 3-4 hrs of sleep at night, you have a tendency to retreat back to child-like silliness. We decided we needed some coronas(as if we REALLY needed anything to impair us further). Finally we decided to call it quits for the night so we make out the hide-a-beds and I roll out my lil piece of foam and plug in my handy dandy fan.

Michelle and I are outside cooling off, finishing  the last of the coronas, when Becky comes out and says “she is going to wash her face”, my reply “ok see ya in about 45 mins”. No kidding… what,how,why it takes my sis so long to wash her face is beyond me-but I guess when you are rockin the floozie, a gals gotta do what a gals gotta do…after about an hour we notice she isn’t back, so I lightly tap the bathroom door “Beck, you OK” her reply “I’m takin the browns to the superbowl” this may seem like nothing more than a poop story to some BUT Becky had been taking iron pills and this was her first superbowl appearance since before Friday-when she finally makes it back into the room we all cheer,yell and clap and she informs us “The browns won” I think the last time I was that happy for someone going to the potty was when middle bean was finally potty trained!

So we are all finally laying down in our respective spots when Becky notices she isn’t in the same hide-a-bed as last night-ya see Uncle Tex didn’t have the highest sheet thread count and apparently the sheets Becky used last night were softer than the ones she had this night and those softer sheets were on Michelle and Renee-out of no where Becky gets up and says “I am sorry but I gotta have my sheet back” and RIPPPSSS the sheet off Michelle and Renee, then she proceeds to inform them that she will even tuck them back in with the sandpaper sheet-oh my gosh-maybe you just had to be there but it was comical, mainly because it was so unexpected-I mean that’s something I would pull…my comment to Michelle and Renee “doesn’t it suck being so far down the food chain-that you even loose your sheet” ya see there are 5 of us in our respective age orders Me,Becky,Laura,Michelle & Renee-guess Becky was pullin rank this night. 

Monday morning was a hectic one, Michelle had to take me to UPS to print boarding passes, the penske rental truck had to be picked up around 8:30 and we had left the kitchen a mess the night before and Uncle Tex says he knew the first thing that HAD to be done and that was clean the “shit” up in the kitchen(his words) and my daddy decides at the last minute he wants scrambled eggs…so we quickly clean the kitchen, I make my daddy some eggs baggie style-yanno crack 2 eggs, add some milk, pour into a baggie, then immerse into a pot of boiling water-then presto you got no mess scrambled eggs(THANKS MOM for teaching me this quick, less mess way of doing eggs) 

We arrive at UPS to find a HUGE line, so we wait, then I notice a computer, we about to knock people over tryin to get to it(well ok maybe I’m the one ’bout to knock people over but…)-ahhhhh Internet access! Michelle leaves me with the promise she will send someone back to pick me up and I print my passes we got A 33 & 34 and A 17 & 18 all is right in the world, at least for the moment. I’m sitting outside the UPS store when my sis pulls up and I noticed on my boarding passes it says arrive in Vegas 11:15 leave Vegas 11:15 so I break down and start crying inside starbucks afraid I messed something up(Monday was filled with lots of breakdowns for me-I was tired,I missed my beans & mr gp,I had been sleeping on the floor on a piece of foam with the grapes of wrath and clanking sea shells and it was 102 outside-everything caught up with me on Monday)Becky’s hubby Chad double checks our reservations and we are all good.

We arrive back to Uncle Tex’s to find this:

so we commence to loading it…

and loading

almost full

HEYYY what are to two doing loafin’ while we is a working-OK so I am takin the pic BUT I am “documenting” that’s a VERY important job yanno? That’s the fan I put together and used while I was there…

There’s the Hot Mess again, right behind Uncle Tex is the burgundy foam thingy I slept on, Ann calls it a futon, I call it a foam thingy and of course the grapes of wrath makin another appearance 

There’s Renee plum-tuckered-out, the bed didn’t make it on the truck, I decided at the last minute that I could use it and by that point the penske truck was pretty full and Daddy and Uncle Tommy still needed to load tools…ahhhh such is life and I got plenty and there was no need for me to be greedy.

The run down of my items include 2 beautiful carved chairs with red cushions,a tea cart with green marble, the wooden fork and spoon,a lane hope chest and Uncle Tex had us draw envelopes for the most beautiful carved furniture you have ever seen in your life, my envelope contained the dining room table with 6 chairs,the china hutch and a silverware cabinet. I will post pics when I get my items home on Saturday. You can see one of the carved chairs on the right side of the below pic…and of course the guys are trying to move their tools into the truck

That pretty much sums up moving day…there was lots of blood,sweat,bruises,fever blisters and tears that day-I never felt like I was helping enough, But Becky & Renee were in charge of packing the penske truck to ensure items were packed properly-they did a GREAT job and I just wanted to stay out of their way since I am really not that good with jigsaw puzzles and thats how they had to pack the truck…

Becky and I had planned to drive back to Tucson and stay near the airport since we had a 6:15am flight but we just had to have La Casita’s Mexican food before we left. Said our goodbyes and kidnapped our daddy and went to dinner. Daddy said two things to me during that moving day 1)”I shore am glad you girls were here” 2)”Gina, please don’t go back to Oklahoma” (my family calls me Gina my parental given name is Georgina-which is what mr gp and his family call me and most my friends call me Georgie) While growing up I HATED my name but this late Monday night I had never been more proud to be named after my daddy!

We arrived at the Country Inn and Suites around 9:30pm and I have never been so happy to see this: a real BED! That’s my bed with the comforter off-cuz yanno hotels don’t wash those comforters after each stay and that’s just plain nasty!

We arrived back to Tulsa around 4pm to the smiling faces of my beans and mr gp-they took me to dinner and had a surprise waiting on me at home-they made me a cake,cookies and they decorated the house with streamers and posters. My favorite poster read: “My Mommy is DUH BOOM!” Dontcha know I always wanted to be the “DUH BOOM” !

I learned a lot about myself and others on this lil trip, like:

I dont like bugs in my coffee

my sis now knows that I sleep at the foot-end of a bed

that it takes my sis 45 mins to wash her face

I still don’t like bugs in my coffee

that takin the scenic route isn’t so bad-sometimes it’s fun gettin lost

that packing up someones life in packing paper and boxes is no easy feat

remembering childhood stories with your sis and cousins is very therapeutic

Daddy tryin to sell mangosteen juice to every Tom,Dick and Harry-he’s learning some new tricks

that my sis and I CAN travel together and still LOVE each other in spite of our differences-and differences is not the right word-it’s hard to travel period…but we made it through and I can honestly say I LOVE my floozie of sis even more now that I have gotten to share/spend this time with her-I guess the word is “appreciate” I feel so fortunate that we got this time together!

Hearing how daddy fell asleep in a golf cart inside DFW airport with a chew in his mouth(love ya daddy-but that’s too funny)

Ohhhh the luggage errrmmm suitcase

That I can go 11 hours without a ciggie

Giggling about the bowns,the grapes of wrath,shell lamps,who ate it & rotted luggage, seeing my Uncle Tommy’s face in big nose Kate’s,cooking for 9 people,being called a PITA, and getting those priceless pics, were just a few of the things that will make this trip to Arizona completely unforgettable.

My confession for today: I still look at my watch and count back two hours-I’m tryin to get back on Tulsa Time…Oh and Thank You for reading…

Lets take a trip-part 2

Ok where was I? Ohhhh yes the grapes of wrath and trying to sleep…

So we wake up Sunday morning and no one knew how to work Uncle Tex’s go-go juice maker, so my Dad and Uncle Tommy ride with me to the Express Stop to get go-go juice for everyone. Daddy needed ciggies and I want you to know that if I lived in Sierra Vista where smokes cost over $6 I would quit right there on the spot! We get our coffee and dad gets his smokes and head back to Uncle Tex’s.

We decided to give Uncle Tex and Ann a break today and since my Uncle Tommy had never been to Arizona, we knew he would just love Tombstone. Tombstone is only 18 miles from Sierra Vista, the perfect day trip. So everyone is showering and getting ready for the day excursion, drinking their coffees etc… I was just about finished with my half Columbian half mocha coffee when I took a swig and felt something in my mouth, I thought, did I get a lump of sugar not stirred up or what? So I kinda rolled it around with my tongue BUT it wasn’t dissolving so I spit whatever it was into my hand…

OK I gotta go FREAK out again BRB

If you have a weak stomach you may not wanna read any further….

This is your last chance turn away, turn away nowwwww….

I really don’t wanna relive this BUT I will make this sacrifice for my loyal readers(I do have loyal readers right? Humor me please-this is very painful and I will be scarred for the rest of my life!)

What I spit into my hand was *gulp* some kind of BUG-I flung it into the sink, threw my coffee cup into the sink and immediately started gagging. My sis thought I was choking and that she may have to perform the Heimlich on me. I was paralyzed to speak all I could do was gag into the sink, I started crying and completely freaking out. Once I came to terms with the fact I did indeed just roll a bug around in my mouth, I was able to speak and utter the words “BUG in MY coffee“. I can not tell you what kinda bug it was(you will have to ask my sis or cousin)-it obviously came from the Express Stop’s coffee pot or cappuccino machine and because my cup had a lid & I never noticed it, until it was in my mouth *yuck* *gag* *spit* OK so it is fair to say you will NEVER see me on Survivor or Fear Factor. Go ahead say it “IMA BIG OL WIMP!” I can admit it and it doesn’t even hurt my feelings… It makes me sick just typing it out…

Moving on…We arrive in Tombstone around 10am and here are just a few of the sites we saw:

Four Deuces Saloon

 The O.K. Corral Gunfight site

That’s Ena coming out of a shop and papa George talking to one of the locals-I think he was trying to sell them some Mangosteen Juice at any rate all the locals dress the part of a time gone by in the town To Tough To Die

This is the Oklahoma Crew visiting with a local

We even saw a gunfight in the street-they had re-inactments all day and while I know they had banks back then that Bank of America sign just looks of out of place

You could take informative tours aboard the Wagons

The American Flag was my focal point in this photo

We decided to take an Old Time Photo while in town and this is one of my Favorite photos of my dad and ena

Enas Costume was called “Lady Chatterly” I guess we are her posse and Daddy is our bodygaurd

Gosh I just LOVE that pic! Now for another of my favorite pics-they were the only ones out there dancin’ and both of them LOVE to dance-I can’t for the life of me figure out how I got the pic blurry but them in focus-but it works and they stand out.

My Uncle Tommy even got “lay’d” in Big Nose Kates Tombstone thats Michelle his daughter holding the noose

Here’s one of the floozie and I, those are my cousins bodies you see minus the heads-My Uncle Tommy took the pic and he wasn’t familar with my camera-we are posing with the soldier boys

My daddy and Uncle Tommy REALLY enjoyed taking this photo-well OK maybe my Uncle Tommy REALLY enjoyed this photo op, daddy looks a lil upset because he didn’t get to be in the middle 

This is how I felt at the end of the day AND how I feel now…

I hope you enjoyed spending the day with us in Tombstone, Az.

My confession for today: There’s more to come…the day’s only half over…

Lets take a trip-part 1

Yeah, there will be a part 2 and possibly a part 3 for those interested in reading about my trip to Sierra Vista, Az-where I along with my sis,2 cousins,my ena,my daddy and my Uncle were going to help my Great Uncle Tex pack up his belongings and bring them back to Oklahoma.  To much stuffs happened to sum it up in a single blog entry -we got the good, the bad and the ugly, The “browns” even makes an appearance in this lil 5 day trip out West. So lets get started…

I wish I could say my Friday morning started out like any other Friday morning, but in all actuality Thursday night rolled into Friday morning real quick…around 11:30pm Thursday while laying in my bed thinking about if I would make it through the security check-point at the airport(certain my pic was on some “watch” list) I thought I heard a siren. So I get up and turn my box fan from 3 to 1 and listen….yep I hear sirens, so I turn on the news and shore’nuff it’s a tornado siren.  I gather up the beans and put them into the bathtub and start making the tornado calls to family and friends making sure they were up-let’s just say I got about 30 mins of sleep. Not good in general, REALLY not good if you got a fear of flying, like say, ummm me and are fixin to leave on a plane.

My sister was driving in from Arkansas so we could travel together, this is her,the HOT MESS, the lil floozie… 

We chose Southwest for our airline of choice because for a very last minute travel decision they had the lowest fares. I had made a prior decision that I “would be ONE with the airplane” I would NOT embarrass my sister while flying the friendly skies! Once my bootylicious was firmly planted in my very nice and roomy leather or was it pleather seat I open my eyes and this is what I see…

Now how could anyone have a bad flight when you see a heart wrapped in wings-I will admit, I was very nervous BUT it never showed-OK maybe it showed once or twice but it wasn’t bad…right Becky? Our first flight, Tulsa to Vegas was about 2hrs 40mins and I am about to say something you prolly thought you would never hear me utter or type…I kinda enjoyed the flight-there were a few bumpity bumps aka turbulence other than that, very uneventful and DYK that SW airlines still gives out complimentary snacks, we got peanuts AND cheese nips. The crew on SW were just super fantastik! The captain jokes around with you and really puts you at ease-on the way home I got a lil nervous again, we hit some unexpected bumpity bumps but the flight attendant noticed I was nervous when I asked if everything was alright, she talked me through it by asking questions to take my mind off the bumpity bumps, and from that moment on she kept her eye on me and mouthed things like “this is normal” “only 5 more minutes” and of course she gave me that reassuring smile, that, just last summer mr gp had tried to master, only his wasn’t as convincing OR reasuring. So get this, I won’t be talking about my flight anymore because I have come to the conclusion that if you gotta fly, Southwest is the way to fly they really take care of you!

Moving on…we arrive at McCarran International

Decide we are hungry and willing to pay $10 for a subway samwhich-then it was off to do a lil of this…

Just look at me playing the slots and as you can see I am playin big time on the nickel money takers, in the world famous Las Wages, with money in hand ready to donate my dollars to the area economy…

Here’s the floozie-you might not recognize her without her boas and nekkid back-ground pic, but rest assured it’s her,  tryin to strike it rich right along with me

shes not really a floozie but that pic up top there just cracks me up and FA-LOOZIE is the first word that came to mind,so I will use it-just remember she’s my sis and I love her and NO ONE else can call her a floozie but me, cuz thats how I roll…

We got our rental car in Tucson which turned out to be this lil diddy

had I shown a lil more cleavage we prolly coulda got the convertible, but morals and values got in the way…damn morals and values-it’s always something!

We arrive in Sierra Vista a lil after 5pm(7pm Oklahoma time) completely exhausted, a state of being that I still haven’t recovered from. It was so good to see my Uncle Tex and his friend Ann-it was even better to see the king size bed I would be sharing with my floozie errrmmm I mean sis. We had a nice dinner at a local mexican restaurant La Casita then back to Ann’s house to prepare for bed time where I all of a sudden became a PITA(pain in the assa) because I asked if there was a lil fan in the house-one was found, I helped assemble it and I will never live it down, that I HAVE to sleep with a fan. That’s what I get for assuming everyone has a fan lying around the house-next time I will check my box fan at the airport and bring it with me…

Before I go any further I want to make a disclaimer what I am about to talk about is not meant to offend anyone or be disrespectful to the elderly-I will be an elderly(heck I feel elderly right now) one day and may need one of these lil contraptions…it sits on top of the potty-It felt like I was sittin ina semi truck, I was up so high off the ground

Lets just say it scared me almost as much as the thought of flying-I mastered this high rise potty,although I was kinda scared to do much more than pee in the high rise-what I am saying is the “browns” wouldn’t be making an appearance in this superbowl(thanks renee for the term)…my sis wasn’t so lucky…she didn’t sit far enough back on the darned thingie and well let’s just say we laughed soooo hard that night. We layed in bed completely delirious and just giggled like we were kids-it was so awesome to have this time with my sis,only thing that woulda made it complete would to have had our youngest sis with us also.

We awoke at 6am(8am Oklahoma time) and I went to get coffee for me and diet coke for my sis-not being real good with directions, I, of course took the scenic route to the nearest convenience store aka “gettin lost”. Finally I found an “Express Stop”-which will haunt me for years to come but more on that later.  

The rest of the “Oklahoma Crew” as we were so aptly named by Ann, were due in around 5ish Saturday, so the floozie and I started packing my Uncle Tex’s life in packing paper and boxes-while I know this was what he wanted us to do-it still felt really weird to be doing this-our mission was to pack the whole house and have everything ready to be loaded into a 26 ft penske truck on Monday. He wanted us to pick out items we wanted for ourselves then the rest could be sold,donated or given away-he just wanted everything gone.

Last summer when mr gp and I took the trip out there Uncle Tex gave me some beautiful Noritaki China and I picked out 2 wooden carved chairs, a teacart and a BIG wooden fork & spoon-the china was shipped to me but now we would be bringing our items home to Oklahoma. These aren’t just any items they are beautiful hand carved pieces of furniture which will become family heirlooms to be passed down for generations to come.

My sis and I picked out some towels and a few knick knacks-I made the comment “Uncle Tex you sure have a lot of stuff” and he corrected me “No, YOU all have a lot of stuff!” meaning it’s ours now…This here is Uncle Tex, isn’t he just a HOT MESS!

We packed until the rest of the family got there and the BIG question was, how did Ena do with her first airplane flight ever? The answer is, she LOVED flying-she took 19 pics of clouds and such-and she didn’t even need a Valium-I would have loved to have been on the flight with my ena and daddy to experience flying with them. Who am I kiddin? I wouldn’t ever love to be on a plane but I woulda liked to seen ena’s face durin the flight…

Now what I am about to show you may shock some of you but I just want to point out, that when traveling it’s a good idea to make sure your luggage can make the trip with you, in one piece or at least do what ena does and tie some twine or rope(cuz we is simple country folk) around your luggage so it makes it in one piece OR better yet take $20 & buy yourself a rollie bag-believe me, it will be worth it. This is what I am talking about… and FYI this is so NOT how I roll…

This is what my daddy’s(but you can call him papa george) luggage looked like when it came off the plane and yes that is AA tape and a plastic bag trying to hold the suitcase together. Thank Goodness Uncle Tex had some rollie bags that daddy could have.

My sis and cousins Michelle and Renee and I packed well into the night-we had such a good time reliving things we did as kids together on the farm,we laughed and this is when I first heard the above “browns” term-my cousin Renee said “I will be right back, I gotta take the browns to the superbowl”. It was a night I will never forget and always treasure…

Having all of us together was such a wonderful expierence for me. I really enjoyed spending time with my family even though it was  stressful at times and I may have been “ugly”-what my sis calls it(short with my words OR very direct with my words-what I call it), we always apologized and then it was forgotten-I am sure I hurt a few feelings and my feelings were hurt as well, but in the end we had a job to do and we did it as a group…

We all(us girls and ena) slept together in the Blue room Saturday night, Ena & Becky(my sis) slept in one hide-a-bed and Michelle and Renee in the other, me being a more picky sleeper chose the floor so I could be near an outlet where I could plug in my fan. Ena just lay-ed there while we talked and laughed and reminisced and asked “if us girls were ever gonna go to sleep!”

Speaking of Michelle & Renee here they are with their dad in Tombstone-more on that in Part 2

So we are in our respective beds them on the hide-a-beds and me in my lil hidey-hole with my fan blowing in my face when the grapes of wrath become a huge factor for me. I like to sleep in complete darkness as I am lulled to sleep BUT Uncle Tex’s ceiling fan was wired to the grapes of wrath and since I was being stingy with my lil fan-we had to have the ceiling fan on cuz it was so hot for everyone else. Here is a pic of what I call the grapes of wrath:

I know they may not look impressive but this lil bunch of grapes can light up a room. So I had to wait till everyone was asleep and tip-toe to the light switch that would put these grapes out of their misery and mine!

My confession for today: In part 2 we take a step back in time and I eat a bug…