Happiness at Ole Miss

About 5 years ago, John asked me to go see a UK game with him at a little school called Ole Miss. No, I had never been there, never thought of going there and really did not want to go to the game, but he said, "I will take you shopping after the game." Well, that is the way to my heart, so off I went to this little game. It was ok I guess, I remember NONE of the game. What I remember is going to Wal-mart. And in Wal-mart was this little machine that I had wanted for a LONG LONG time, well, not that long because it had not been out that long, but long enough in my eyes. It was a scrapbook machine that would cut out die-cut letters and shapes with the touch of a button. You would buy cartridges and put them in the machine and you would expand the base of what the machine could do. WOW!!! It would be great for someone like me...but alas when they came out they were like $300 and that was NOT going to happen for me. I would watch the infomercial and dream of the day that I might have one...dream a long shot dream is what I did. Well, we are just basically killing time in this Wal-mart, picked up a Yoda bubble bath and a few other things and there on an end cap was this machine, the CRICUT!!! Oh, it was lovely, I went to pet the box and drool over the instructions (this was the first one that I had seen in real life). And low and behold on the corner of the box was a clearance sticker! Now mind you, these machines were still NEW, I mean they were a hot item with the scrapbook world....so this was like finding a gold necklace in the bottom of a shoe box. It was only $145!!!! Less than 1/2 what I had priced them for. No brainier, it was going home with me today!!!!!!!!


Well, here we are all these years later, you have not failed me in any way. I still use you often, never traded you in or dissed you in any way. You have proved worth every bit of the $145 that I paid for you and have saved me more than that in die-cuts alone. I thank you for being so loyal, true and all mine. Thank you, Wal-mart near the campus of Ole Miss for giving me such a great gift. Thank you Provo Craft for making such a great product. My first generation of cricut is still amazing!!!!

Florida 2010

Florida 2010

I was a tad nervous about this whole trip…problems at work, Grandpa sick, and a timeshare. We had never booked a timeshare. I read the reviews online and some were good, a free great, and many BAD ones. I had already decided that I would throw a fit if needed. When we approached the resort exit, it was easy to tell that it was NOT in the tourist district…PLUS 1 for the Tiki’s. It was 8 miles from I 4 and 6 miles from the Disney West gate. NICE! We had a brand new super Target and 2 Publix and not a lot of tourists.

The resort looked inviting on the outside, you had the little Tiki Gods holding up the sign and very landscaped lawns. When I entered the lobby, it was spread out and open. This was a tad confusing, I went to the “check-in” desk but because I was with a timeshare I had to go to an additional check-in desk. I got my room key and the girl sent me down the counter to our “resort guide”. She wanted to get me Disney tickets cheap. All I had to do was listen to a vacation club talk. NOPE!!! I am not doing what I said. “I own the timeshare, I am in and don’t need anything else” She continued to offer me more things for 1 hour or 30 minutes of my time and I said, “NO, I am going to my room” and that was the end. It was not as high pressured as I expected.

We drove around to our unit the 1200 unit that I had read good reviews about online. Our room was 12331F. We opened the door and were knocked out by a very FISHY smell. YUCK! I got out the air freshener fast! We had one bedroom, one bath, a pullout sofa, a kitchen, a dining room, and laundry. We also had a bonus foyer, which was nice to store stuff. The room was clean (YAY) and stocked well. There was a vacuum, dishes, laundry detergent, dish detergent, a dishwasher; a living room….it was nice.

Everything in the unit worked fine except the front AV jacks on the tv, but we could plug the Wii into the back AV jacks. There were NOT enough blankets supplied and the sheets for the couch are NOT fitted so they do not stay on well. I will bring sheets next time.

Now for the water park…well, it was NOT what I expected. The site says “five water slides”, I assumed they were “water slides” because it did not say anything about being Kiddie slides. They were kiddie slides L. And the site said that there was a wave pool. The wave pool was one corner of a pool and it just had jets L. Not fun! The lobby pool was nice. Zero gravity pool, hot tub and very uncrowded! This is where we spent pool time. We never ventured onto the tennis courts, basketball courts or the golf course….NO TIME!!

What did we do? Monday is was Disney….well, EPCOT to be exact. EPCOT is the favorite park so it was a no brainer. We did our touring plan and had a marvelous day. We first fast passed Soarin’ then rode Test Track, Mission Space, Universe of Energy and then back to Soarin. Here we saw the Heath gang. Our baseball coach, Steve Shelby (my touring plan buddy) and all their families. It was fun to sit next to Steve on Soarin’. This was in the first hour! We fast passed Soarin again, rode Living with the Land and then headed over to Journey into imagination and the Living Seas. After that, we could relax a bit and just take it easy. We decided to eat. Hannah and I ate at Sunshine Seasons (my favorite ala cart place at WDW) and the boys ate at Electric Umbrella. My salad was superb as always. I always get the salad grown at EPCOT and the tuna salad…YUMMY! Hannah always gets the chicken leg and mashed potatoes.

After lunch, we headed over to World Showcase. Trevor was going to do a Kidcot mask because he has never done one (have no idea why). We got over to France and entered the Kidcot station and low and behold who was there but Mark and Grant Eyer. We spent a little time with the guys and joined up with Heidi and waited for Marie. After that, Mark decided to kill my son J and then we had to get back to ride Soarin again. This was designed as a break for my family who don’t really like the countries, they only go to humor me. After that, we started where we left off….France. As we approached America, the Kool and the Gang concert was about to start. ………… Yeah, we watched it…our kids were bored to death, but we knew all the words. It was very cool and I got great photos of drunken ladies dancing in the aisles and with the band.

When Kool was over we once again trekked on through the countries…..not much happened until Mexico where we got to eat some very good tacos. Well, it depends on who you ask. I thought they were good Hannah hated them.

We ended the day by the boys watching Illuminations and the girls running back to do Test Track one more time! It was an amazing ride and worth the running across the park that Hannah and I did to get there.

DAYTONA

Once everyone got moving we got into the car and headed over to Daytona. It was a nice quiet ride across I 4. And it was quiet in Daytona. We got on A1A and headed down the strip. It was nice to look around at everything as we have not been able to go to Daytona since 2005. We found the hotel that John and I stayed in on our honeymoon, and low and behold it is STILL a dump!!! We found a real gem on the strip, something that was NOT there the last time we were there….Sloppy Joe’s. Now, this takes us back to Key West. Yep, we ate there. I had the famous Sloppy Joe….yummy and I had to school my daughter on who “Papa” was. She had never heard of Hemingway. What are the schools teaching children, no Hemingway? That is an issue for later. We traveled back to Orlando and a good nights sleep, tomorrow is Universal Studios.

Universal Studios

Well, I was a bit nervous about this too. I remember last time we went to Universal is was roller coasters and I don't do coasters. Not at all, but I was excited that Trevor would get to see Harry Potter. That is exciting anyway because that part of the park just opened in June so Trevor would be one of the first people to go there.

It was very easy to get him a pass for the lines. I just went to guest service and they took care of him quickly. That is always nice. It did not matter in most instances. I had read that Spiderman was one of the greatest rides on the planet, so we headed there first. WOW!!!WOW!!!WOW!!! This was a little bit of wonderful. It is a simulator, part 3-D, part live action, part animation, all thrills! It had real flames, real water, Spidey would talk to us like he was in the car with us. What is happening is you get in this car and are traveling through town. Spiderman is with you and Doc Oct grabs your car and shakes you trying to kill you. What happens next is that a bunch of villains begin to bother your car and Spidey has to save you. And succeed he does.

Next we just walked about a bit and saw a place to eat lunch. We got the all you can eat package and planned to take advantage of it. We stopped for the first meal in the cartoon type restaurant. It was just OK! We did get this large bottle of coke that we could refill and that was very nice.

WE kept walking and around a bend we saw this giant castle. Yep, that's it HOgwarts. It was so lovely. I have always loved castles so it was exciting in that aspect but that is about all. As you are walking around towards the castles you enter Hogsmeade. It is like a throw back to olden times and I loved it instantly. The town was snow covered and a snowman greeted you as you entered the city gates. WE went inside Honeydukes, and it was sort of cool. The kids liked it but they knew what all the stuff was and I did not. There were butterbeer carts everywhere but I have no idea what that is at this point in time. No, I have not ever read the books and never cared to. There was the HOgwarts train and a conductor standing outside. The kids had their photo made in front of it and it was very cool. We sent John over to the Dragon's Challenge because I heard it was fun for roller coaster folks. So we went into Diagon Alley to watch John on the coaster. We did not know if he was on fire or ice, but I am telling you I was scared. I knew that the coasters were 12 inches apart from each other when you were in the middle of the ride and the riders were upside down. John got a little woozy...not good. But then we climbed the hill and headed to Hogwarts. I wanted so badly to go inside this castle and here we go. We showed Trevor's pass and they let us right in. We climbed some stairs and got into the ride line. OH MY GOSH, this ride was the best thing I have ever done. I had no idea what any of it meant. I have since studied Harry and read the books so now I know that Argog, the dementors, and he who must not be named. It was so good, that we got back in line to ride it again. We got right back in line and got on the ride within minutes. It was just as thrilling the second time and actually I wanted to ride it again, but John got sick. Very sick!!! While we were waiting for him to get better we rode the Flight of the Hippogriph. That was a family friendly coaster and not bad at all for someone like me that doses not like coasters.

We took at break and ate lunch in Dr Seuss, this was way better than the last place that we ate.

After lunch we headed to Poseidon. I have no idea what movie this is from but the show was very interesting. I enjoyed it.

After this we headed back to Harry. The wait was 80 minutes but we got right on. After that we headed to the old Universal. WE did the Twister, which is just like it was in 97 and a bit dated. We did the Simpsons (I hated it but everyone else liked it), Men in Black (we did this twice it was so fun), Jaws (I loved Trevor's reaction), ET (just as cool as I remember), and we ate dinner. That's all for today folks.

The next morning Grandpa called with problems but we decided we could not get home in time so we carried on waiting for news on him. We rode the Harry Potter ride again (I think 2 or 3 more times), the Nick show (nice), Shrek (nice except that you have to stand). I met Lucy and Ricky and Marliyn Monroe while everyone else did the Terminator show. We rode the spiderman a couple more times and I think that we did the DR Suess train this day too. All in all, Universal was great and hooked me on the HP bandwagon.

We left Fl early before we were scheduled because we felt we needed to get home for Grandpa, but it was a great trip and I want to go again.

Facts of life

It is a fact that as you finish the last load of laundry, you will sit down and magically a ton of dirty clothes will appear.

It is a fact that you will run out of dental floss just as you need it the most.

It is a fact that as much as I love het and support her, sarah palin will insert her foot into her mouth.

It is a fact that boys will laugh at toot jokes.

It is a fact that I am on Team Jasper.

It is a fact that my internet is out on most days.

It is a fact that I want to get published and run for public office.

It is a fact that Joe at Olive Garden is a terrible grumpy server.

It is a fact that coca cola cake is yummy.

It is a fact that I want Huckabee to run in 2012.

It is a fact that I hate mold.

It its a fact that I will never run pout of facts.

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I love you to the moon and back

Well, I aired my bad things, now I will play Oprah and and tell you my happiness things of today....only I am NOT giving you a car or a trip.

McDonalds Double Cheese burger...I don't know why you and I love each other so. We have loved each other since I was in high school and I first consumed those 2 patties on a smallish bun. You are fried and greasy, but I crave you often. You have no tomatoes or lettuce, but I still love you. Those little "onions" make me very very happy. Wish I had one right now.

Coffee...well, I have turned into my mother who turned into my grandmother. Yeah, I drink coffee now. I have to brush my teeth right after, but I love the taste at first. 3 creams and 2 sugars....unless it is flavored cream and I have (GASP) gotten to the point in life where I can go without sugar then. WOW I am old!!!

Music...have to have you in my life everyday. You make me happy, sad, thoughtful, gleeful, humble, spiritual and just generally ECSTATIC!

Politics..you make me happy, you make me sad. I can't get enough of you. Gosh, I watch Meet the Press for fun (heart David Gregory)...oh gosh that brings me to the next topic....

News people...I love the anchors....Brokaw, Gregory, Matthews, HOLT (the best), Champion :)

Heidi Eyer...one of my all time favorite people...she just posted on fb that she was on my bad list, she had no idea she was on the good list too. She is an amazing person. One of my heroes in life. She is loud, crude, giving, loving, smart, obnoxious, caring, and a jerk. I love her dearly!

Rednecks...Jeff Foxworthy gave you to me and I love you all, wait I love Ya'll. Git er' done

preschool mats that had holes in them...can't use them for work, but I brought one home from school for my son. It is nice that he uses it and does not try to sleep in my bed.

Food...yeah I know I mentioned you before, but you get to be mentioned again. I love to eat. Love to photograph the food I eat. Love to scrapbook the food I eat. Yeah, I am strange. I must be hungry, I can't stop thinking of food things.

Computers...I LOVE you very much. You can make me feel smart and you can make me feel dumb. You can let me do research or you can let me stayed connected. You are fun and I am reading even more books now and I read a lot before. Maybe a new record for books read in 2011.

That is all I have for today...Later taters.

Here kitty kitty

Hello all, this little blog if an ode to a very pretty cat with a big attitude. My cat was born on March 7, 2005. She was the cutest little kitten ever...sweet, loving, playful...she did not try to tear up anything in the house, she did not cause trouble of any type.
Then she grew up! She became temperamental and began to bite. She had the reputation of an evil cat, and it was well deserved. The snuggling aspect was gone, but the biting instinct became strong. So strong in fact that the cat would have a new nickname, evil cat. The evil cat would "attack" unprovoked. A human could walk by her and bam, they were attacked. A human could be cuddled up with her, simply petting her and all the sudden.....bitten again. The cat could be asleep and all the sudden wake-up and bite the human. Maybe she had seen too many vampire flicks? Maybe.

That sounds awful, oh yes it does, but that's not her worst. The worst is when a human can sleep in. How can sleeping in matter? I.still have not figured that out. The human can be sleeping, soundly and outside the humans, bedroom door comes a very loud.....MEOW! The meowing will go on, a door will be rattled, the meowing gets louder....the human awakens in a very grumpy state. Why do you meow? Why won't you tell me? You meow loudly and I can't stand it! Yes, this cat meows while you are fixing dinner, she meows when you sleep, meows when you are vacuuming...WHY CAT? No human can figure out why. No human can stand it either....help, help, help me understand. You get three square meals, sometimes more if the kids feed you. You have many great places to sleep. You have a family that would love to snuggle with you if you would not bite them. You have it all! Why are you throwing it all away? Don't you care? Don't you love your humans? Don't you? Answer me! Quit sitting there looking at me like you are so beautiful that I should ner grateful to be in your presence. I don't owe you anything! I just want you to love your humans. Stop biting them...stop waking them from their well-earned slumber...Stop it! Be a good kitty! Be a kitty that people want to love. That guest are not afraid to touch....keep these guests from even scared to enter the house! Cat, just be good!!!!

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I'll take that challenge

In order to make me a better scrapbooker, I am supposed to take a word....a noun...and write about it. I am supposed to use words, phrases, and even stories about this noun. I have to write for ten minutes and so my dear readers, you get to benefit from this task (yeah, you can call it that, a benefit).

Cheeseburger

yummy, juicy, "some pink", a good burger is a burger that leaves a trail of juices running down your arm, can't get enough


I have had a love affair with cheeseburgers for as long as I can remember. I have traveled far and wide in search of the "perfect burger". I have found some that claim to be "the best" but ended up tasting more like "the least". I have had very expensive burgers to cheap little "low quality" burgers.

The first burger that I ever remembering "loving" was a burger from Burger King. Now see people back when I was a child the closest BK was in Clarksville, TN. So going to Burger King was a HUGE event. We would often make a day trip to Nashville just so we could stop in Clarksville and eat a Whopper (I think we ate at another one in Nashville too). On the way to Colorado one year, I bet we stopped at every Burger King that we crossed just to again have a Whopper. When we heard that Paducah was finally getting one, it was a little hard to believe. We were so excited and actually, I remember going on my first date with John. He said where would you like to go eat? He was thinking I would pick Cracker Barrel or the Brass Lantern...NOPE, I picked Burger King. It was a brand new store and I could not get enough of those Whoppers!!!

Then there was Ruby Tuesday..... I remember that my dad and I used to seek high and low for a burger as good as a Ruby Tuesday burger (see this love runs in the family). I guess this affair stopped when the Paducah store closed and we could not get one anymore. Then I moved to Arkansas and discovered Mexican food, I did take a little break from the affair with the cheeseburger but not much. The first place we ever ate in Little Rock was a Burger King on Markham Street (we actually spent the night in the parking lot in our uhaul---we were the first customers of the day). Once while at the Arkansas State Fair, we tried this burger that was beyond belief...it was a real live "hub cab" burger. This thing was MONSTROUS!!!! We had it plain so that John could eat it, but I sure would love to try it with ketchup, lettuce, tomato, onion, mustard, and maybe bacon! For a while, I thought this was the best burger EVER!!! Of course, I have only tasted one in my whole life, so it might not be as good as I remember.

Then we moved back to Kentucky and had to begin the search all over again. I was over Burger King, we had no Ruby Tuesday...there was not much. In October 2006, John had to go to an NWA meeting, in Cleveland, Ohio. I spent the week traveling around the town and going to Cracker Barrel store that I had opened while he was in meetings. I saw this place by the mall Red Robin, Gourmet Burgers and thought, "what a strange concept" and kept driving. As the week ended we wanted to eat our last meal in Cleveland so I took him to the mall area where I had spent most of my week (be honest Michelle you were hoping for one more trip to Archiver's and you got it). John saw this Red Robin sign, we had never heard of it before (other than me seeing the sign earlier in the week), and he said: "let's go there." We entered and I ordered a Cherry Coke. WOW, it knocked your socks off good. It ranked up there with a Sonic cherry coke. Then I ordered the Bacon Guacamole burger, some pink with garlic Parmesan fries. My friends, that was the end, I had achieved the goal... I HAD FOUND THE PERFECT BURGER!!!!! It's the end of the road for you all. Thank you, good night. RR had perfected it!!! The smiling burger made me smile so big. I took the picture of the burger and had to have more. And I have, we have traveled far and wide for Red Robin, as my dad used to travel for Burger King. I have been to them in Colorado down to Tennessee. Oh somewhere I have a list, I also have a photo that has been taken in every single one that I have enjoyed a burger....plus, I even had one that I have driven by TWICE and never walked through its doors. Pier 95 Red Robin in Seattle Washington...maybe one day I shall enjoy a bacon guac in your presence.

Thanks for joining me for my love affair with the cheeseburger. May you find your true burger happiness.


I did it, Creating Keepsakes, I hope that you are happy with me...I journal-ed for over ten minutes on a random noun....the cheeseburger

Decisions

Sometimes you have to choose to do something. Sometimes it is easy and you can just snap right to it the answer. Sometimes it is something that you have longed for so it is a quick decision. Sometimes it will require "sleeping on it" Sometimes it is something you never thought that you would do...Something you never thought you could do...Something that you never thought that you would have to do. Basically, life is full of decisions.

*What will I wear today?
*What toothpaste will I use this morning?
*What will I wash first, colors or whites?
*What will I send in my child's lunch?
*Should I scrapbook or should I paint today?
*Should I call and complain about the service I received at the restaurant today?
*Should I eat chocolate or be a good girl?
*Would be the best way to handle ___________?
*When should I hire someone to _____________?
*What important things am I missing speaking to my kids about?

Uh, I could go on forever and ever. How do you make a decision? Do you jump at it? Do you pray about it? Do you "sleep on it"? Do you try to put off the decision? That is where I am today. So many decisions...how do you know what is right? How do you know if the tree is really dead? Or is it dormant? How do you know that you killed all the weevils? How do you know that you are choosing the right thing for your child? How do you know that life is about to change in ways you never thought possible but it is coming? Can you ignore it and make it go away? No, not the questions that I am facing. Can you pretend that everything is fine and just go about day to day life? No, not with the decisions on my plate. How will you know it is right? Faith!!! What? FAITH!!! Faith you say? Faith. Faith that God can handle it. Give it to him. Yes, the answer lies in the power of prayer and trust! Prayer for the truth to enter the heart and the decision will come easily. The decision will be right! Is it going to be easy? No, but then where was the guarantee that life would be easy? Where is the guarantee that the best choices might not "feel" like the best? The guarantee that you could handle this on your own? I never saw that guarantee. I know it doesn't exist, what does exist is PRAYER!! Prayer, I believe the answer lies in prayer. Thank you, I now know what must be done! I have to run I have a more important thing to do now.