or this?
I hope so. My cousin’s wedding was a blast. It was the first time I danced all night without needing to be three sheets to the wind. Quite freeing.
It helped that the dance floor was absolutely packed, though. Most times it’s just kids out there, but not this crowd. They were ready to dance. And so was I.
R and I are loving our new roommate!
I don’t know if the same could be said for N, considering the fact that we are always in his personal space. When he wakes up, he hears “Hi N!!! Just Making Some Coffee!!!” When he goes to sleep, he hears “Go ahead and sleep, N, we’re just going to finish up this 3 hour movie.”
Ugh. I’d go crazy.
He has a good attitude though and makes fun of the annoyances, so that helps. Like when we were all discussing the book The Five Love Languages, I asked what his language was and he said, “being left alone.”
Soon, though, we will be moving into a new place. And all will be well.
For the record, R is wearing pants. And yes, those are overstuffed slippers on his feet. He makes me smile.
I think the boys are enjoying living together again after so many years.
Here’s a taste.
We had a nice Mother’s Day. We ate at a quirky Indian restaurant in Eureka Springs while a lady we could’ve sworn was Janis Joplin belted out gospel music.
After a few awkward moments of verbal tug-of-war, R and I finally won the honor of paying for the meal. It’s a lot more fun for the giver when the givee just gives in without a fight.
In R’s family, it’s a different kind of tug-of-war. There’s no discussion of who is paying. You just have to pull an undercover sniper attack on the waitress to get the ticket before the other person does.
Afterwards, we went on a tram tour of the the city. The docent (thank you for the vocab, mom) was cute. Maybe I just liked her white hair, I don’t know, but I did chuckle a lot.
We drove by countless Victorian homes. The entire downtown is in the National Register of Historic Places in America.
I’m glad these two appreciate it as much as me.
We made a quick tram tour stop at a church with cool statues of the stations of the cross.
And then we saw the fudge store. Enough said.
I found some overgrown stairs and immediately climbed them. Poison oak be darned, I’m finding out what’s up there.
Houses.
And people looking through the windows wondering who this chick was with red splotches on her ankles.
Note to self: don’t wear sandals while traipsing through unknown foliage.
We visited one of the many springs in the town and then headed home. We were exhausted! Two full days of exploring, but oh it was worth it!
Can’t wait to explore the many other areas of Arkansas, possibly with some newcomers to the state? More details on that later.
Last weekend, my parents came down to visit. It happened to be on Mother’s Day weekend, and when asked if she was sad to not be spending it with the majority of her kids in KC, she replied, “Oh yeah. I didn’t realize it was this weekend.”
Thanks.
One item on our agenda was to scope out where my grandparents (my father’s parents) grew up. My dad visited his mom’s family once a year on and off and had fond memories.
So we piled into the car and. off. we. went. ..just a spoon full of sugar helps the medicine go down…
One thing my dad brought up was the artesian well near his grandparent’s property, which had never stopped gushing out water when he was kid. We weaved our way down some dirt roads and finally found it, on (no joke) Artesian Well Road.
whew.
We later found out that my great-great grandparents owned a store right near this water source, if not practically right on top of it. At one time, there was also a plaque stating that this was a stagecoach stop!
Just past this well is a creek in which dad used to play. When we drove up to it, there were still kids playing in it, which was a nice touch, I thought.
Then we headed back towards the properties.
First, looking to the south to Tater Hill and John Koch’s house.
As we parked, we heard some birds chirping on the wire fence.
So mom brought out their trusty bird book and we actually found it and listed to its song!
I’m one for 235 on the good gift scale. Not bad.
We spotted Uncle Abe and Aunt Sophie’s home and pulled up in front of it.
Dad started pointing out what the different buildings behind the house were for, what had changed, what hadn’t, etc. Then we noticed a man standing out in the lawn.
He didn’t look too happy watching us stare at this property.
So dad decided to pull in and talk to him.
Turns out the home is still owned by Abe and Sophie’s son (Dennis) and this couple is renting from him. They said they had Dennis’ number in their cell and asked if we’d like to talk to him.
This is Dad’s cousin. Yes, we’ll talk to him!
While Dennis was being called, the other guy showed us his timberwolf. No really. A full timberwolf.
I stayed back.
Dennis happened to be in the area and swung by the property. Dad and him shook hands exclaiming how old each had gotten. It was great. He was the one who told us about the store near the well.
They reminisced and described what had changed.
The barn from which they’d gather eggs is still there as well as the building where they’d milked the cows.
The field is there with cows (and donkeys) running amok. Did you know that donkey’s are used to keep away coyotes?
Neither did I.
After we left, we stopped by the old cemetery and found some gravestones. This will help me in my ancestry.com quest. Oh lordie, a couple nights ago, I travelled a few hundred years back into time into the land of Luxembourg, Germany. It was fantastic. Love that site.
Dennis also told us that the house where Dad’s mom grew up in was still standing. Even dad didn’t know about that. We got directions and headed straight there.
Don’t you just love it? Yes, there’s a piece of furniture on the balcony and a stove on front porch, but come on!
I’m just picturing little Gerdie running around with her blonde ringlets and wishing it were up for sale. I want it back.
But for now, I’ll be content with looking at the photos and imagining.
On one of our stops over the weekend, we came upon a festival.
I bet R was wishing he had those shades. They’re perfectly round, you know. Exactly what his face needs according to Glamour magazine.
First of all, did anyone watch Betty White on SNL? Oh my. Love her.
Back to me.
I met up with some girlfriends down in Dallas for the Warrior Dash. It’s a 3 mile run with obstacles.
And mud.
Lots of mud.
We walked into the courtyard, not knowing what to expect. Me, a pirate. Juice, wonderwoman.
Juice found some of her superhero friends while waiting for our heat to run.
The fire blasted and we were off!! I’ve taken some photos off of the website, so we’re not in all of them. But we did *do* all of these, including swimming across a pond and swallowing muddy water in which I’m sure some people peed.
Hey! Here’s me!! We had to jump over fire.
And apparently this is how I do it. Like a baby fawn just learning how to walk. Could you imagine me as a firefighter.
the last leg was in the mud pit, crawling under barbed wire. You got booed if you didn’t get dirty.
I was too busy making sure my pirate sash covered my mid-section. Forget trying not to collapse in the mud, did anyone have a girdle??
Here are the other girls we met up with down there. They all carried foam viking weapons through the race.
Afterwards, we hung out in the courtyard area, peeling off mud, and soothing our achy bones with cold ones. A band was playing in the back and we enjoyed people watching.
Something I’d do again and I think R would really like it.
After this, I’ve decided I just might skip on the mud bath option at a spa.
Why is there a muddy pirate posing next to a dirty Wonder Woman?
Details coming soon.
It has now been officially three days since all of us have begun living in the Anne Frank’s attic. So far no one has killed each other, although there have been close calls.
You see, literally the moment N walked into the dorm room he pointed at each of us, including himself, and said “you’re fat, you’re fat, i’m fat, we’re all going on a diet.” Then proceeded to whip out a spreadsheet to chart our progress.
[side note: when I told the lady to whom I teach ESL, she said, “Ooohh (in a caring, sad way), but I don’t think you(long pause)r husband’s fat.” That made me laugh. And then I immediately began a lesson on what not to say to women in the American culture.]
Here is the said spreadsheet.
Um.. Rude.
After I recovered from the shock of this multi-colored excel sheet of hell, he asked “So do you know what we’re all doing next? We’re going to the bathroom.”
I laughed, thinking he meant that we were all going to literally go to the bathroom… you know, like Numero Dos. And then I saw N wasn’t laughing. He really was waiting for us to go the bathroom.
Uh, this is weird. But hey, there are magazines in there I guess… WAIT. The scale is in the bathroom.
And like a dog being drug to the vet, I was pushed onto that small piece of unhappiness. How can such evil come from a simple machine?
After they coaxed me out of the closet and convinced me that no more harm would be done, R shoved me into the kitchen and ordered a ‘before’ photo be taken.
We made it through, marriage intact. N still lives with us, too. Barely. We’ve started P90X and I haven’t been this sore since high school.
It is definitely no holds bar. But we’re only on day 3, and I already feel more energetic. Maybe not necessarily happier. R said, “Yeah.. Let’s all live in a dorm room, dramatically cut our calorie intake and start a really hard workout.” There have been some bumps, but we’ll get through.
This is going to be a good thing.
A few weeks ago, my friend turned a year older. We were on our way to visit R’s parents and stopped through on the way.
Oh my goodness.
Also, Oh Stanley!
That’s what I said every other second for the night we were there.
This is Stanley.
He’s sad.
I love sad dogs.
One time my sister and I went to Petsmart and we found Freckles. He was sad. I still regret not buying him.
Look at those eyes. I know what he’s thinking.
“Why is life so hard. What is my purpose. Who is this person shoving their face into mine. I want to jump out that window over there.”
The next day we woke up and treated S to a round of golf.
But first I had to give her a bday gift.
Our library gives some books away free. And no I don’t mean I just walked out with it. It really was free.
And this was one! Perfect for S.
This book along with a pink plastic flamingo for their housewarming gift has led me to believe that I’m probably the world’s best gift giver.
It ended up being a nice sunny (littly chilly) morning. We only played nine holes before heading off to lunch.
And I actually enjoyed myself. I think it took not playing for a year and a half to come back a little more laid back. That being said, I can’t wait for more rounds.
I wish Stanley would come along.
cuethebanjo.com 
