Sunday, December 1, 2013
New Month Resolution
I think I quit Weight Watchers over the last few months. I just seemed to get off the boat one day and never really got back on, in fact I picture myself afraid to get back in the boat so I am drifting out in the ocean with one leg in the boat just barely holding me afloat when I would be so much safer to put both feet in the boat, but somehow my mind doesn't see it that way. I have "toyed" with my plans since August. Now, I'm mad. I have had every excuse in the book but it's just not good enough. My main one is I am home alone most nights and I eat. Yep, to someone who has never had that love affair with food, they don't understand. To my "sensible me" I don't understand either. I want to say I don't even know why I do it, the real me, says I do it because I can. Now to convince myself that I won't eat because I can.
I hit the 55 lb mark in August, I have lost and gained the same 10 lbs since then. It's time to get very real, very public and get back on the wagon. I WANT to be on the wagon, I like who I am when I am tracking my points, doing my exercises, getting enough fruits and vegetables. It's just easier to be who I have been the other 45 years of my life. So, public commitment today that December is going to be a month to get the weight off I have gained and maybe a few more pounds. It's easier to me when I have all of you to be accountable to. I have been going to Weight Watchers for so long, I was hoping some of you forgot, now I'm reminding you, and more importantly, reminding me.
I am challenging myself to 30 days of tracking, planning and exercising. I am using my blog as a journal right now, so I will be letting you know just how it goes.
Today, I forced myself to do Leslie Sansone's Green Mile. it's a start. I will post an actual workout calendar by the end of the day, if not for the month, at least for the week.
Time to do this, I am ready, willing and I know I am able.
Friday, November 29, 2013
Happy Christmas!!!
I have to tell you I am SO excited about Christmas this year!! And it feels really good to be so excited about Christmas. As you know, if you are a blog follower, I always have a theme for Christmas. Last year, it was Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas because Christmas last year was little. I was more focused on the recent death of my uncle, and honestly, much more on getting his estate taken care of, amidst hearing through the grapevine that some people didn't think I was smart enough to take care of it. I had to laugh because eventhough it was a big deal, first of all, Uncle Junior was smarter than a lot of people gave him credit for and though there were still times in the last year, I wanted to climb on up to Heaven and kick him right off of his cloud, he did set things up pretty foolproof for me. Second, the things I needed to get done for the estate was seriously nothing compared to the normal day-in, day-out of my job. None of the naysayers were anyone directly involved with the will. In fact, I have a great deal of respect for my Uncle Kenny and my mom. If every family was able to agree on things as easily as they did, wills and estates wouldn't be scary. Anyway, THAT is in the past and this is a new, wonderful, glorious Christmastime.
As badly as part of me wants to be sad because it is Robert's last Christmas at home, I am bursting with pride at the young man he has become. I am so pleased with how sentimental he is about the farm and how he really "gets it" the treasure he has been given. The most exciting thing that has happened this week is they framed in what had been a huge hole to the outside. Robert was thrilled because a lot of it, he framed in himself. He is learning lessons to last him a lifetime and he is learning them from his dad. The farm in all of it's memories for me, just added even another chapter as a legacy for the family.
So, bring on December!!! I have plans and I am just thrilled to death by all of them. First off, I started today with the traditional Black Friday shopping. I decided since I didn't have my partner in crime this year, because he had to work, I better play it low-key. There was nothing out there that I needed to do the "stand in line or you won't get it" anyway nothing of any big importance so I decided to keep it simple and head to Effingham and Mattoon. I hit JC Penney at 6:00 and was basically in an empty store except for tons of employees. It was eerie. I got everything I went for though. I headed to Menard's and back into normal craziness. I did find a good parking spot and only had to wait about 10 minutes on a cart. I found everything there except two things they were out of, the beard kits, which the guys could have both used and the 13 piece picture frame set. One of the things Robert has requested is a "home" wall. I have random family pictures with the word HOME in big block letters in my entryway. This kit would have made it easier but I actually picked most of mine up at the Dollar Tree so it was no biggie. Anyway, that was still a pretty easy trip, then I headed to Mattoon. Went to Big Lots, Petsmart, Home Depot, Walmart and the headed to Charleston for the sole purpose of hitting Starbucks. A Skinny Peppermint Mocha was my reward for my trip....oh it was good too!
This evening when Robert gets home, we will head back to Effingham to Menards, I want a new tree and they have what I want but I didn't want to fight the crowds this morning with a huge honkin' tree. Andrew closes, so we will go in time to be ready to eat when he gets off work.
About the rest of my Christmas season.....Decorating today and tomorrow as well as making some of my homemade presents. Sunday, the guys are gonna help me do the outside decs. Tuesday I get to see my friend Patty, and go meet her newest grandbaby, Amity. Wednesday, I am helping with AWANA, this is exciting because since we gave up the high school post, there really wasn't much need for me being there. I helped with the Cubbies, the 3 and 4 year olds, a couple of weeks ago and their director asked if I wanted to help corral them for the Christmas program practice. It is really fun and a HUGE change from High Schoolers. I miss my high schoolers but knew I couldn't keep up with the amount of studying for their lessons this year and didn't want to short change them for selfish reasons. Friday December 6th is our company Christmas party as well as mine and Andrew's 22nd Wedding anniversary. It's a neat year this year because we got married, or eloped, on Friday. So, I am expecting we will find someplace special for dinner that night. The 7th, I am getting together with two of my BFF's from high school, don't know where yet, but the important thing is we are getting together. The 8th we are going to a Christmas open house in Greenup. One of my favorite houses, as well as one of my favorite people is hosting it. The 13th and 14th we are having a couples overnighter with my sister and BIL. We are heading to St. Louis. Nila and I went last year and there were somethings that we thought would be neat to take the hubbys. The 15th is our church Christmas caroling and party, the 18th will be the AWANA Christmas program, and the 22nd will be the Church program. The 23rd will be my last day of work and then.....wait for it.....I am on VACATION for the REST of the YEAR!!!! Yep, really, really gonna get away from work for a while. I don't have anything planned but I am really looking forward to the time to not think about work for a while. Sis and Richard will be here on the 24th for the night and then we will spend Christmas at Mom's. Just all seems pretty darn near perfect.
Because of all of this I have chosen this year's Christmas song......always been one of my favorites but this year it is just gonna fit.
May you have a very MERRY CHRISTMAS...hopefully I will be better about blogging this month that I have the last couple.
Enjoy.....
Saturday, November 9, 2013
Catching up (again, and again.....)
Someone mentioned yesterday that it had been a while since I have updated my blog. Well, yes, it has. I can't seem to keep up with anything anymore. Last Thursday, I decided I was going to break down and hire someone to clean my house. Then I thought, Robert is moving out in a couple more months, and then surely Andrew and I won't be as messy. Then I thought, all Robert does here now is sleep and occasionally eat, it's not him....THEN, I thought, it is because Andrew and Robert are neither one here much at all. This probably doesn't make sense except for the fact that in our "normal" (yes, whatever that is supposed to be) lives, a lot of times after dinner, Andrew and I would visit while we put the dishes in the dishwasher, put dinner away, did a load of laundry, cleaned the puppy area, etc. It didn't seem like we were doing anything because we were together and now, doing it all by myself just feels like an endless amount of work. So, moral of the story, once we get the farm done, I think we can cope again. I'm looking forward to it.
Things never seem to slow down at work either. I never dreamed there would come a day when someone else was doing more of the "day-in, day-out" work with LIHEAP more than I was, but it has come. I am so very, very, thankful for Sheila King, the assistant LIHEAP coordinator. I don't want to say she is "my" assistant because heck, I think we are to the point where, as far as LIHEAP is concerned, I am helping her. It seems there seems to be so many other issues, between the PIPP part of our program, money issues, IT issues, etc. that if it weren't for Sheila, I would never be home either. And mentioning the IT issues....
Two weeks ago, we had a bad, bad, virus in the office. It attacked one computer and then went on to get the file server that all 25 of us share. It has been a long two weeks, as problems from that arose again the beginning of this week. This virus attacked actual files, documents that we HAVE to have and were no longer being able to open. Thankfully, we have a good support team in SDS computers and after many hours on Monday evening and Tuesday, we were back up. In the meantime, we have decided to start hosting our own email again. Something which, with me being responsible for it, I am scared to death, but also know after the recent attack, is necessary.
Then to top off everything at work, we have our first monitoring of the year on the 19th and 20th. I am scared to death......seriously, I KNOW everything I will be fine, but as I said earlier, I have stepped away from the day-in, day-out parts and eventhough I have complete faith in Sheila, in the back of my mind, I have that, "Have I forgotten to share something important with her". It is what it is though and we will get through it. I hated it that the dates were what they are. The 20th is the anniversary of my dad passing away, and as much as I hate myself for it, it is there, staring me in the face from the beginning of the day all the way through to the end.....one of those days that my life changed, forever. I had a client tell me the other day that his life was ruined because his dad died when he was 7. I had to bite my tongue so hard it almost bled. Nobody can ruin your life but you. It is up to you what it is going to be, yes, there may be some that have a harder time getting from point A to point B than others but people, that is what life is about. Let God take control, listen, stop trying to figure out, "Why me" and try to figure out "Why not me" and then make it happen.
Anyway, I know my own life will be a little better once we get through the 20th, this year, for more reasons than one. Today is also a trying day though. A year ago today, my uncle passed away. Talk about an emotional journey. I have had every emotion in the book the last year over him. From being thankful for the way he took care of how he wanted his things taken care of.....and the way he did it made it easier for me in the long run,,,,all the way to wanting to get to Heaven so I could kick him off his cloud for some of the other things he left me with (not to mention what Mom and Robert had to take care of in the line of livestock, pets, etc.). Bottom line though, we used to banter and fuss but we loved each other very much and I miss him, a lot..
So, we are to today. Thursday, we took in the NCHS pops concert, always awesome though I will probably watch Robert's senior year Pops Concert video sometime today as it is my all time favorite...I might be a little biased but oh well.
Last night Andrew and I went to his Goodwill annual banquet, it was quite emotional, but great. So many lives touched. I am so happy that right now, we are in the same line of work, just different aspects of it.
Today I am dragging, two nights past my bedtime and knowing Monday is there to be my Saturday is keeping me from running this morning (though I have every intention of taking time out to go to the Veteran's day ceremony uptown--it's IMPORTANT to remember our freedom isn't free!). Taking the dogs to the groomers this afternoon so just kinda relaxing this morning. Andrew is at the farm, Robert is at work and will go to the farm at noon when he gets off and I am going up this evening to take them supper. I will take some pictures and update his blog for him, he has big news....floors!! It is a big deal as I think it made it real for him that he is actually going to have a house in a matter of a few months.
I am so very proud of him. When he got his job, his GOOD job, that pays better than every job I had except this one....and I worked several years before making the equivalent of what he started out at; I told him he needed to start paying his car insurance and of course, for the work being done on the house. Because of his past wrecks, car insurance on his own would have been unreal, so we kept him on ours for now. I made him payment books for both the insurance and the house, we figured he would probably pay $300 for an apartment, so that is what he is paying us on his house. He is almost a whole paycheck ahead already on payments. He is responsible enough for the house he inherited and that in itself is wonderful to me. He and his dad is doing all the work themselves and though it's slow, I know from just having the work done on our house this summer, he is saving thousands. The way things are going right now, I expect for him to have his renovations completely paid for in 3-4 years--then it's his, scot free.
Anyway, I'm going to close for now, have another browser open and talking to my other son, Adam, who I am so proud of also.
Happy Saturday!
Mindy
Things never seem to slow down at work either. I never dreamed there would come a day when someone else was doing more of the "day-in, day-out" work with LIHEAP more than I was, but it has come. I am so very, very, thankful for Sheila King, the assistant LIHEAP coordinator. I don't want to say she is "my" assistant because heck, I think we are to the point where, as far as LIHEAP is concerned, I am helping her. It seems there seems to be so many other issues, between the PIPP part of our program, money issues, IT issues, etc. that if it weren't for Sheila, I would never be home either. And mentioning the IT issues....
Two weeks ago, we had a bad, bad, virus in the office. It attacked one computer and then went on to get the file server that all 25 of us share. It has been a long two weeks, as problems from that arose again the beginning of this week. This virus attacked actual files, documents that we HAVE to have and were no longer being able to open. Thankfully, we have a good support team in SDS computers and after many hours on Monday evening and Tuesday, we were back up. In the meantime, we have decided to start hosting our own email again. Something which, with me being responsible for it, I am scared to death, but also know after the recent attack, is necessary.
Then to top off everything at work, we have our first monitoring of the year on the 19th and 20th. I am scared to death......seriously, I KNOW everything I will be fine, but as I said earlier, I have stepped away from the day-in, day-out parts and eventhough I have complete faith in Sheila, in the back of my mind, I have that, "Have I forgotten to share something important with her". It is what it is though and we will get through it. I hated it that the dates were what they are. The 20th is the anniversary of my dad passing away, and as much as I hate myself for it, it is there, staring me in the face from the beginning of the day all the way through to the end.....one of those days that my life changed, forever. I had a client tell me the other day that his life was ruined because his dad died when he was 7. I had to bite my tongue so hard it almost bled. Nobody can ruin your life but you. It is up to you what it is going to be, yes, there may be some that have a harder time getting from point A to point B than others but people, that is what life is about. Let God take control, listen, stop trying to figure out, "Why me" and try to figure out "Why not me" and then make it happen.
Anyway, I know my own life will be a little better once we get through the 20th, this year, for more reasons than one. Today is also a trying day though. A year ago today, my uncle passed away. Talk about an emotional journey. I have had every emotion in the book the last year over him. From being thankful for the way he took care of how he wanted his things taken care of.....and the way he did it made it easier for me in the long run,,,,all the way to wanting to get to Heaven so I could kick him off his cloud for some of the other things he left me with (not to mention what Mom and Robert had to take care of in the line of livestock, pets, etc.). Bottom line though, we used to banter and fuss but we loved each other very much and I miss him, a lot..
So, we are to today. Thursday, we took in the NCHS pops concert, always awesome though I will probably watch Robert's senior year Pops Concert video sometime today as it is my all time favorite...I might be a little biased but oh well.
Last night Andrew and I went to his Goodwill annual banquet, it was quite emotional, but great. So many lives touched. I am so happy that right now, we are in the same line of work, just different aspects of it.
Today I am dragging, two nights past my bedtime and knowing Monday is there to be my Saturday is keeping me from running this morning (though I have every intention of taking time out to go to the Veteran's day ceremony uptown--it's IMPORTANT to remember our freedom isn't free!). Taking the dogs to the groomers this afternoon so just kinda relaxing this morning. Andrew is at the farm, Robert is at work and will go to the farm at noon when he gets off and I am going up this evening to take them supper. I will take some pictures and update his blog for him, he has big news....floors!! It is a big deal as I think it made it real for him that he is actually going to have a house in a matter of a few months.
I am so very proud of him. When he got his job, his GOOD job, that pays better than every job I had except this one....and I worked several years before making the equivalent of what he started out at; I told him he needed to start paying his car insurance and of course, for the work being done on the house. Because of his past wrecks, car insurance on his own would have been unreal, so we kept him on ours for now. I made him payment books for both the insurance and the house, we figured he would probably pay $300 for an apartment, so that is what he is paying us on his house. He is almost a whole paycheck ahead already on payments. He is responsible enough for the house he inherited and that in itself is wonderful to me. He and his dad is doing all the work themselves and though it's slow, I know from just having the work done on our house this summer, he is saving thousands. The way things are going right now, I expect for him to have his renovations completely paid for in 3-4 years--then it's his, scot free.
Anyway, I'm going to close for now, have another browser open and talking to my other son, Adam, who I am so proud of also.
Happy Saturday!
Mindy
Sunday, October 20, 2013
Catching up
Things have been so borderline crazy that I have slipped a bit with the blogging. If you are friends with me on fb, you know the house is done, I wanted to wait until my door was up to post it on it. The door was supposed to come within three weeks. Tuesday will be three weeks....nothing like having to wait until the last minute. A couple of other little things going on here at our house though. Back when I was little (6-8) my mom and dad was redoing our house. My mom ordered two crystal chandeliers, identical; for her living room and kitchen. For quite some time, she had told me I could have them, and I wanted them for my living room/dining room. Before Robert inherited Juniors, mom had told him he could have her house some day. He put a stop to the chandeliers being moved because he wanted them. Well, now that those plans have changed, mom bought a ceiling fan for her living room and another light for her kitchen and next Saturday morning, Andrew is taking down the chandeliers and putting up her new fixtures. I am going to refinish the chandeliers, Andrew is going to rewire them and then I will have them. I can't wait! We have an antique light over our dining room table and it will find a home someplace else in the house but it just didn't put out the amount of light I wanted in the dining area. I believe the chandeliers will just look like they were made for my house and the history of them being Mom and Dad's is just that much more special.
Anyway, here are some before and after's of my house....
Anyway, here are some before and after's of my house....
We need to get pics up on Robert's blog of his house, they are hoping for a major milestone Monday night, so probably after that.
Andrew and I took in the Covered Bridge Festival over Columbus Day. First time ever I had to go find an ATM machine so yes, I probably spent too much however, Andrew bought one of MY Christmas presents....first time ever that has been done before December 24th...haha, not really but seriously I think it is the first time he has ever had me something bought before December 1.
Today I am starting to look at Christmas crafts and get in the mood to start presents. I will leave you with some of my fall decorations. I didn't do Halloween so everything should be around until Thanksgiving.
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Thursday, October 10, 2013
Newport Antique Auto Hillclimb 2013
Sunday October 6th, 2013
We left home at 6:30 Sunday morning heading for Newport IN for the Hill climb with a mandatory stop at IHOP for breakfast. I personally love this day because the guys love it and I love watching them love it. It rained all morning but miraculously cleared up before we made it to Newport. We took in the hill climb, the street fair, the flea market and of course, the food (which I ate and STILL was down 3 lbs. at WW!! YEAH ME!!)
We watched the hill climb until about 3, when the guys decided they were tired of sitting in the chairs. Andrew and I are planning a trip to the Covered Bridge festival on the 14th so we decided we would scope out Mansfield and Bridgeton without the covered bridge festival going on. That was kind of a joke. There were already tons of vendors there setting up their wares. So we still didn't get to see the towns in their "natural state" but I still want to sometime. We drove one of the routes, took in some of the bridges and ended the day at Outback.
Robert @ IHOP.... yes, all three plates are his, not to mention ALL the sugar packets for his coffee.
I MIGHT have gotten a little distracted by the fleas while the guys were looking at cars....I didn't take many (in fact this is the ONLY one I took of the car show)
waiting for the next car to climb the hill...
We left home at 6:30 Sunday morning heading for Newport IN for the Hill climb with a mandatory stop at IHOP for breakfast. I personally love this day because the guys love it and I love watching them love it. It rained all morning but miraculously cleared up before we made it to Newport. We took in the hill climb, the street fair, the flea market and of course, the food (which I ate and STILL was down 3 lbs. at WW!! YEAH ME!!)
We watched the hill climb until about 3, when the guys decided they were tired of sitting in the chairs. Andrew and I are planning a trip to the Covered Bridge festival on the 14th so we decided we would scope out Mansfield and Bridgeton without the covered bridge festival going on. That was kind of a joke. There were already tons of vendors there setting up their wares. So we still didn't get to see the towns in their "natural state" but I still want to sometime. We drove one of the routes, took in some of the bridges and ended the day at Outback.
Robert @ IHOP.... yes, all three plates are his, not to mention ALL the sugar packets for his coffee.
Saturday, September 28, 2013
The Kid's house
Not gonna say much, just post some "before's" They started working on it on the 17th of August. At that time, we really thought he would be in it by October....replace the living room floor, put up some new drywall, paint....fix the bathroom and kitchen up a bit.....but then reality hit. The "replace the living room floor" turned into, "jack up the house and put new floor joists under it" when they started jacking the walls up, that turned into "replacing the walls" and so on and so forth. For a couple of weeks it felt like all they got done was more demolition. They are back on the building side though and hope to actually have a floor in Robert's bedroom by next week at this time.
Onward......
Onward......
Saturday, September 21, 2013
Flying the Friendly Skies and a 30 year Class Reunion
Andrew had always told me he was a ghost in his school, that he knew a lot of people but he didn't think a lot of people knew him. I have to tell you I was really shocked when earlier this year, he said he would like to go to his class reunion. Being the money manager, that translated into, "Let's find a way to make this work". Anyone who knows me knows that any chance to travel is a good one so I found a way to make it work even though it is officially my first year of being LIHEAP coordinator and LIHEAP started September 3rd. Not a great time to be gone but thanks to a very capable Assistant Coordinator and modern technology, I knew it would work. I had planned the trip in June. We would fly out on Thursday, giving us all day to get to McAlester with some time to spare before the first activity, going to the ballgame on Friday night. I had never been to Tulsa so it would also allow us to spend just a bit of time there, my idea, was eating dinner someplace nice before the almost 2 hour drive. Well, anyone who knows us knows things never go as planned. I thank the Lord daily that is doesn't seem to normally be bad things, just oddities. We flew out of St. Louis Thursday in route to Atlanta. I know....it was weird but it was cheap and as I said, we had plenty of time. My only worry was we only had 38 minutes between flights in Atlanta and so I was nervous that we would miss our flight out to Tulsa. We got to the second gate just at 30 minutes only to be told our plane was in the hangar and it would be about 1 1/2 hours late. No worries, there were LOTS of Starbucks around and I could relax that we wouldn't miss our plane. So our plane went from leaving Atlanta at 3:15 to 4:45. A glass of iced coffee and outlets to recharge our phones and we were set. At 4:45 they announced that it would be 5:15, so went the next 4 hours. At 6:00, they announced that there was a plane scheduled to leave for Tulsa at 8:00 and we could chose to get on it instead but if this plane got fixed, it could still leave sooner. I went and booked us on the 8:00 flight only to be told if our current plane ended up going, our luggage would be on it. This would save us NO time, we would either be sitting here waiting for a plane or sitting in Tulsa waiting on our luggage. At 6:18, I called the hotel I had booked for the 3 nights. I was supposed to call by 6 to cancel and I wasn't calling to cancel. I told her I knew I had to pay for the room because we had missed the deadline, I just didn't want her to give our room away for the next two nights. She said she COULD go ahead and cancel the Thursday night, bless her heart. That freed us up to just find a place to sleep in Tulsa no matter when we got there. So, we made the decision, we would stay with our luggage. If that meant staying the night in the Atlanta airport, at least we were together and it would be cheap. Most of the other people chose to take the 8:00 flight. I had posted on facebook what was going on and my friend Leslie from high school volunteered to come and be with us, take us someplace or anything. It would have been nice if we were given more than a 30 minute at a time schedule. As it turned out, there were 4 of us who hadn't taken the other plane. That resulted in 4 of us on the flight, at 9:30 that night. Obviously, we got first class seats and treated like royalty. 4 passengers, 3 flight attendants, 2 crew in the cab. We were on our way.
So we got to Tulsa, had a rather grouchy rental car attendant, who proclaimed "every flight has been late today" , got our luggage and found a place to stay. It was a room, no biggies, at a Days Inn but it was doable and we slept. The next morning we asked Siri to find us the best breakfast in Tulsa. Why is it that a lot of times these places look like dives? It did but breakfast was awesome and the strangest thing was happening. I was CRAVING grits. I normally hate grits but I ordered grits with my non- Weight-Watcher endorsed huge fried breakfast and they were awesome. I honestly wouldn't mind having some more....who knows what that is about?? Anyway it was a great breakfast.....and I can't even remember the name of the place. I apparently didn't take pictures, probably feeling guilty about the quantity of food, I was not able to eat it all though!
So, onto McAlester, we stayed at the Hampton Inn, I am a Drury girl but we had a studio suite and it was really nice. I have to say it will probably be what I look for if there is no Drury from now on.
There were three places Andrew wanted to eat at while we were in McAlester, Pete's Place, Krebs Korner and Braum's. We hit Pete's Place for a late lunch on Friday. Wow, what a place. Apparently, a lot of Italians came over and made their home in Krebs, right outside of McAlester. They had a passion for cooking and started opening their homes as restaurants. Pete's has expanded and looks like a restaurant on the outside, but on the inside, it is unique to anything I had experienced. Each table is in it's own room, complete with a door. Talk about an intimate evening out... and the food....oh my goodness! I LOVE Joe's here in town and it is still my favorite Italian restaurant but Pete's is now definitely second. Everything is handmade here as well but I have a feeling they were from different regions of Italy. The cheese in the salad is made at Lovera's, which also makes the Italian Sausage for most of the places in town. Both have won many awards. Here was lunch, off the LUNCH menu, I would hate to see supper!
Onto Friday night. We stopped by Andrew's brother, Kevin's house and visited with him and Rica for a while before heading to the game. We went to the ballgame and then to a Family Fun Center after the game, this was the first event of the reunion. When we got to the Center, I told Andrew, go see your friends, I'm not gonna be in the way, got myself a diet coke and headed for a bar stool in the corner. It wasn't long before people started asking him where his wife was so I joined the conversation. I have to be thankful to facebook, several of them at least knew of me from Andrew's posts. Made it seem like I wasn't such a stranger.
Afterwards, we snuck off to Braums's. It is an ice cream place that is to die for. It is a chain in the south central US. We had Banana Splits---once again, not necessarily Weight Watcher's endorsed but that is what I love about Weight Watcher's, there is no "you can't do this" list. There is a "you make your choices" list and it was my choice. It was very good.
Saturday morning, we attended a prayer breakfast with a fantastic breakfast buffet and then took tours of both high schools. McAlester had two high schools when Andrew was there. Most of the classes for Freshmen and Sophomores were in the old school and Juniors and Seniors were a few blocks away at the new school. If you were a lucky Sophomore, you had some classes at both, which meant you could drive between the schools. Leaving their closed campus rule for lunch in the dust. Andrew was one of those, as were several others. The old school had been turned into a museum. Most of it was different eras of time in McAlester but one room was school history. This was just a really good time and it was just a nice, relaxed atmosphere.
The three girls in this picture are simply amazing, Shannan,Janice, ( I thought at first that was Janice, the girl in the middle is Karen Whitington, who I really didn't get to talk to much, and Brandi (with her back turned). Shannan and I had been friends on fb for a while and it was so good to meet her. Carrie, the girl at the next table, in the green, planned all of this, along with a committee, they did a fantastic job. Happy to say, they are ALL my friends too now.
After the old school tour with one of the many buffalo sculptures. There were as many buffalo in McAlester as there are eagles in Newton, and sized to scale. Lots of BIG Buffalo.
After our morning activities, we headed to Krebs Korner which is actually a gas station with a deli in it. We got our lunch, I had to have the Italian Sausage Sandwich just for the "experience", and olive salad AND caprice salad. We went back to our room and ate and then took a sinfully long nap. I thought about getting Andrew up and getting in the hot tub but the bed was nice and it had been a long time since I had just taken a guilt-free nap.
That brings us to Saturday night and the main affair at the Grand. By this time, I had gotten acquainted with quite a few of Andrew's friends and so we just had some nice visiting time and excellent food. The menu was stated as "Heavy Horderves". What it translated to was "quite a spread". Chips and Sauces, cheeses, meatballs (WONDERFUL meatballs, three different kinds), wings, fruit, veggies....just awesome food.
We sat with Fred and Wendy Brown that evening. Fred and Andrew had been friends in high school. Fred works for Apple Computer and Wendy is a stay-at-home Mom. It was great visiting with both of them. They live in Austin TX and although our lives are very different, we found lots to visit about and found there are several things we all still have in common. I loved it when I told Fred I was IT Coordinator for our agency but that didn't mean I knew anything. His response is you are the one willing to fake it. BINGO!!!! Hit the nail on the head. Most of what I get accomplished is dumb luck and shear stubbornness. Something inside of me says nothing mechanical is going to defeat me. 99 times out of 100- it doesn't. Fred wasn't putting me down, he was speaking from personal experience and it was nice visiting with him.
We had 3 really busy day and called it a night, saying goodbye to Andrew's friends and my new friends (notice I didn't use the word OLD! :-) ) We ventured back to the room and finally found the hot tub. It wasn't as hot as I would have liked but it was still good on the back and the bones and made sleeping easier.
Sunday morning, we made a quick trip to our niece's place of work, and visited with her for a few minutes. She had her husband bring their little girl, Phoenix, in to meet us. I hated it that she had to work but glad we still got to see them for a few. We went onto Kevin's before heading to Tulsa. I have a picture I didn't share on fb directly, but here it is now...Some things never change....
Kevin STILL has a pesky little brother.
Look at Kevin's face! He thought Andrew was going to lick him!?!?
So, we left McAlester with a lot of fond memories of a great weekend. With everything going on at our own house, as well as at the farm, it was perfect timing to get away.
Our flights home were nonevents, we were delayed probably 10 minutes in Chicago because of rain but other than that, smooth sailing. We got back to St. Louis, got our luggage, got to the car and decided we were starving. Plans were a McDonald's hamburger, but we both wanted food. We found an IHOP, (after discovering IMO'S was closed!) and ate one last meal. Andrew drove home so I could sleep as he had the next day off and I had to go in early. We made it home at 1:08. Seriously, I was in bed asleep by 1:10.
So, MHS Class of '83, you know how to put on a good party, create a lot of memories and make one anxious for 5 years of her life to pass. Thank you for treating an outsider like one of your own. I always wondered if Andrew and I would have met in high school instead of when we did, if we would have gotten along. I know my answer now, because his friends are an awful lot like my friends. Now his friends are my friends. Being in my hometown, it has been the other way around for quite some time, he knows most of my friends and has for years. So this was good, really good.
And yes, there is no doubt about it, when the 35 year MHS Class of '83 Reunion comes up, we will most definitely try to find a way to make it work.
(And seriously, any of you reading this, if you ever get to SOUTHERN Illinois--basically coming through the state on I-70, look us up! Our doors are always open and we would love to see you!)
So, onto McAlester, we stayed at the Hampton Inn, I am a Drury girl but we had a studio suite and it was really nice. I have to say it will probably be what I look for if there is no Drury from now on.
There were three places Andrew wanted to eat at while we were in McAlester, Pete's Place, Krebs Korner and Braum's. We hit Pete's Place for a late lunch on Friday. Wow, what a place. Apparently, a lot of Italians came over and made their home in Krebs, right outside of McAlester. They had a passion for cooking and started opening their homes as restaurants. Pete's has expanded and looks like a restaurant on the outside, but on the inside, it is unique to anything I had experienced. Each table is in it's own room, complete with a door. Talk about an intimate evening out... and the food....oh my goodness! I LOVE Joe's here in town and it is still my favorite Italian restaurant but Pete's is now definitely second. Everything is handmade here as well but I have a feeling they were from different regions of Italy. The cheese in the salad is made at Lovera's, which also makes the Italian Sausage for most of the places in town. Both have won many awards. Here was lunch, off the LUNCH menu, I would hate to see supper!
Onto Friday night. We stopped by Andrew's brother, Kevin's house and visited with him and Rica for a while before heading to the game. We went to the ballgame and then to a Family Fun Center after the game, this was the first event of the reunion. When we got to the Center, I told Andrew, go see your friends, I'm not gonna be in the way, got myself a diet coke and headed for a bar stool in the corner. It wasn't long before people started asking him where his wife was so I joined the conversation. I have to be thankful to facebook, several of them at least knew of me from Andrew's posts. Made it seem like I wasn't such a stranger.
Afterwards, we snuck off to Braums's. It is an ice cream place that is to die for. It is a chain in the south central US. We had Banana Splits---once again, not necessarily Weight Watcher's endorsed but that is what I love about Weight Watcher's, there is no "you can't do this" list. There is a "you make your choices" list and it was my choice. It was very good.
Saturday morning, we attended a prayer breakfast with a fantastic breakfast buffet and then took tours of both high schools. McAlester had two high schools when Andrew was there. Most of the classes for Freshmen and Sophomores were in the old school and Juniors and Seniors were a few blocks away at the new school. If you were a lucky Sophomore, you had some classes at both, which meant you could drive between the schools. Leaving their closed campus rule for lunch in the dust. Andrew was one of those, as were several others. The old school had been turned into a museum. Most of it was different eras of time in McAlester but one room was school history. This was just a really good time and it was just a nice, relaxed atmosphere.
The three girls in this picture are simply amazing, Shannan,
After the old school tour with one of the many buffalo sculptures. There were as many buffalo in McAlester as there are eagles in Newton, and sized to scale. Lots of BIG Buffalo.
After our morning activities, we headed to Krebs Korner which is actually a gas station with a deli in it. We got our lunch, I had to have the Italian Sausage Sandwich just for the "experience", and olive salad AND caprice salad. We went back to our room and ate and then took a sinfully long nap. I thought about getting Andrew up and getting in the hot tub but the bed was nice and it had been a long time since I had just taken a guilt-free nap.
That brings us to Saturday night and the main affair at the Grand. By this time, I had gotten acquainted with quite a few of Andrew's friends and so we just had some nice visiting time and excellent food. The menu was stated as "Heavy Horderves". What it translated to was "quite a spread". Chips and Sauces, cheeses, meatballs (WONDERFUL meatballs, three different kinds), wings, fruit, veggies....just awesome food.
We sat with Fred and Wendy Brown that evening. Fred and Andrew had been friends in high school. Fred works for Apple Computer and Wendy is a stay-at-home Mom. It was great visiting with both of them. They live in Austin TX and although our lives are very different, we found lots to visit about and found there are several things we all still have in common. I loved it when I told Fred I was IT Coordinator for our agency but that didn't mean I knew anything. His response is you are the one willing to fake it. BINGO!!!! Hit the nail on the head. Most of what I get accomplished is dumb luck and shear stubbornness. Something inside of me says nothing mechanical is going to defeat me. 99 times out of 100- it doesn't. Fred wasn't putting me down, he was speaking from personal experience and it was nice visiting with him.
We had 3 really busy day and called it a night, saying goodbye to Andrew's friends and my new friends (notice I didn't use the word OLD! :-) ) We ventured back to the room and finally found the hot tub. It wasn't as hot as I would have liked but it was still good on the back and the bones and made sleeping easier.
Sunday morning, we made a quick trip to our niece's place of work, and visited with her for a few minutes. She had her husband bring their little girl, Phoenix, in to meet us. I hated it that she had to work but glad we still got to see them for a few. We went onto Kevin's before heading to Tulsa. I have a picture I didn't share on fb directly, but here it is now...Some things never change....
Kevin STILL has a pesky little brother.
Look at Kevin's face! He thought Andrew was going to lick him!?!?
So, we left McAlester with a lot of fond memories of a great weekend. With everything going on at our own house, as well as at the farm, it was perfect timing to get away.
Our flights home were nonevents, we were delayed probably 10 minutes in Chicago because of rain but other than that, smooth sailing. We got back to St. Louis, got our luggage, got to the car and decided we were starving. Plans were a McDonald's hamburger, but we both wanted food. We found an IHOP, (after discovering IMO'S was closed!) and ate one last meal. Andrew drove home so I could sleep as he had the next day off and I had to go in early. We made it home at 1:08. Seriously, I was in bed asleep by 1:10.
So, MHS Class of '83, you know how to put on a good party, create a lot of memories and make one anxious for 5 years of her life to pass. Thank you for treating an outsider like one of your own. I always wondered if Andrew and I would have met in high school instead of when we did, if we would have gotten along. I know my answer now, because his friends are an awful lot like my friends. Now his friends are my friends. Being in my hometown, it has been the other way around for quite some time, he knows most of my friends and has for years. So this was good, really good.
And yes, there is no doubt about it, when the 35 year MHS Class of '83 Reunion comes up, we will most definitely try to find a way to make it work.
(And seriously, any of you reading this, if you ever get to SOUTHERN Illinois--basically coming through the state on I-70, look us up! Our doors are always open and we would love to see you!)
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