Why I love cruising

1. The Ships---Big beautiful floating cities. And they are gorgeous!! Especially those newer ones.
2. Food---I love to eat! Love to try new foods and my family doesn't...a perfect chance for me to try stuff and not lose any money if I don't like it. Man, if I don't like it, they will bring me a replacement for free.
3. Formal or not so formal---I love to dress up for a 5-course meal! I love portraits. Well, there are also times when I want to slum it and a cruise will allow me to do that too.
4. Location---you go to bed in one country and wake up in another and no extra travel or hotel fees.
5. Ocean (At sea days)---Look out around you and all you see are waves, dolphins and if you are lucky whales. (and you might see Cuban guard boats if you sail in the right area of the world)
6. Broadway (or better) styled shows---We have seen people use the silks, ice skate and blow us away with their vocal talent. Once we even saw "The Beatles".
7. Floating shopping malls---I love the shops!! Sales on watches, scarves, trinkets, ammolite, tanzanite, rhodolite, and sterling silver. Discounts on designer bags and most ships seem to have a $10 store.
8. Empty bars/lounges---places that are secluded and quiet during the day, a great place to read or sketch. I love this part of my day!
9. Classes---Craft classes, scrapbook sessions, napkin folding, name that tune, TRIVIA (I shall win here)....yep, I am there!!!
10. Chocolates on my pillow---that part needs no more added to the description, but I get equally excited by tomorrows capers newspaper.
11. Naturalist---I have only had these on my Alaskan cruises but they are so wonderful, so informative, and willing to answer my questions.
12. Included---I love that after I pay the ticket price and other than the shopping, really I am out no more money except tips. Especially when I got to Alaska and book my excursions from home through the same company the cruise ships use. Saved a ton of money.
13. Midnight buffets---yeah, if I can stay up, I love them. However, they don't come every night like they used to :(
14. Artwork---I love looking at the various artworks on the ships. some have millions of dollars worth of art on board.
15. Photographic moments---there are usually so many that I can fill up an entire 8gb card
16. Omelet stations---one of my favorite parts of getting out of bed early. A fresh cooked, made to order an omelet. I like the one with tomatoes, cheese, mushrooms, onions, peppers, and bacon. YUMMY!!!
17. Vanilla---gotta go to Mexico to get the vanilla for my famous cookies.
18. 12 hours in a fjord---yep, I will sit there the entire 12 hours just to see those great glaciers.
19. Cruise Directors/Shopping Experts---they make me laugh, they are crazy, and often highly entertaining.
20. Hot tubs---oh yeah, love me some hot tub, especially when the air is 39 degrees outside. AHHHHHHH!!!

Superstar

My parents wanted to go on dates so they decided to hire a sitter. They used a girl named Kim. She was from the trailer park and she rode my school bus. She was a senior in high school and I loved her. She was nice to me when other high schoolers thought to scare me with talking about sex. Anyway, she was great.

We had a great time, but I guess my parents felt guilty about going out because they brought me home my first barbie....superstar barbie! I loved her so much.

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Tommy Rall

So I wrote a fan letter to Tommy Rall of seven brothers for seven brothers fame. The dude is one amazing dancer, let me just say. If you ever get the chance to see kiss me kate you can his extraordinary work. Anyway, he is 80 so my expectations were not that high. John called me yesterday and told me that I had a case. I said open it. It was autographed photos of Tommy Rall. How cool is that? Very! Thanks, Tommy!

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up up and AWAY

Today we completed another season of Upward ball with Lone Oak First Baptist Church. I must say those guys/gals do a great job over there. I know it cannot be easy working with all those kids, it is time-consuming and kids are messy. But they get it done, they are friendly and they are patient.

I like the Upward program because it teaches kids the basics of the game, how to be fair, to be nice to people, and gives them memory verses too! The best part to me though is that the coaches find something positive to say about each and every child (at the end of the game while passing out the reward stars). Those coaches seek out something good in every player, every play, and every "mistake".

Well done LOFBC!!!!!

That darn 7 am alarm

I do LOVE to go to bed early and rise early, everyone that knows me knows this. I do however like to get up late on the weekends. I just can't get my alarm to STOP going off on Saturday and Sundays. Now, I would probably not sleep past 7 or 8 (cause I don't do that unless I am sick), but I DON'T want to get up at 6 on a Saturday!! What can I do about this alarm? Why does the alarm feel the need to wake me from my slumber? To wake me from my sweet dreams? To wake me when I probably stayed up late last night and need that extra beauty sleep?

Callie, I understand you are bored and lonely. I understand that you are "starving to death". I understand that you miss your best friend (John)....but Callie KNOCK IT OFF!!

Callie, do you realize that if you did not consistently bite your humans they MIGHT let you sleep in the rooms with you? Do you realize that if you would quit sleeping all day and roaming all night, again your humans might let you sleep in the rooms with them?

Cat at the rate you are going, you are going to be locked up in your room on the weekends and I know you hate that. Just wait until 8am and then meow all you want. 8 am, why is that too much to ask?

To the Clouds..

For some reason Paducah, KY has great sunsets, great glimpses of the moon, and strange looking clouds. Here are some of the ones that I have observed from my neck of the woods. They really don't need words. I will just tell you that all photos were shot with a Kodak z981 (26 optical zoom). That's as good as my camera gets.

Old yeah, but maybe wiser too!

This year marked another milestone in my life (gosh I keep having so many of these)...this one was the anniversary of 20 years since the day that I walked across a stage at Graves County High School and they pronounced me a graduate. Yes, that means that I graduated in 1990, and that makes me almost 40. I understand that, I am not trying to talk to you about that...I am trying to talk to you about my school.I thought we were the coolest school cause we had stairs....yeah that feeling went away FAST!!!Our commons did not look like this...we had these coffin shaped boxes to sit on...tables would have been great!

We used to be told don't walk on the gym floor with "outside" shoes...I had to do it this day because NO ONE was there to stop me.

Graves County High School was a new school when I entered its hallways. I was the second class to start from its freshman year and graduate, but that is not what I liked/hated about it. Here is the deal, I am from Lowes Elementary School. It was very tiny, over the crowded school. That, in my opinion, was full of very bad teachers (there were good ones too, but the bad ones tend to stand out in my memory....I have to search to remember all the good ones). Teachers that did not like the children and I had two personally that were CRUEL to me, and I was a good kid!!! So GCHS sounded like the sweetest music to me. I was going to have choices in classes and being a new school it was going to have the cream of the crop in both things offered and teachers. Yes, it was an escape. An escape from the backwoods of Lowes and branch out.

me and my locker

I am what most people at Lowes called a "weirdo". I liked to paint, draw, dress in black, listen to the Beatles, quote old movies, and my family was pretty poor. I was an outcast with the exception of a couple of others, who might have felt like me. I felt that I did not belong because I was not like others. Yeah, that's me! STRANGE!!!

GCHS was going to offer to me ART!!! Do you know how good something like that sounds to someone like me? Someone like ME...that has bad luck, was a freak! I was going to have ART CLASSES!!! Lowes had an art teacher, but every student in the class did the same thing, it was nothing challenging and honestly, it was NOT art. It was a craft. Everyone did the same thing and you could NOT use any creative license. I hated it!!!

Four years of ART later I had a firm grasp on what I like to make. Mr. Goodwin, my wonderful art teacher, encouraged me, taught me how to look inside for what I wanted to create and he gave all the students chances to experiment with all types of art. some of Mr Goodwins students works of art
Our table in the lunchroom

Please don't think it all was grand it had some downsides too. I did like being able to get lost in the crowds if I wanted or being in the front too. Trust me if you know me, you know I am capable of being both. I ate lunch with the Principal almost every day (He did not eat, he would just sit at our table...I sure he sat at others too, but I was honored he would sit at ours).

I hated the math classes but fell in love with reading here (only I would have been too "cool" to admit it). My love of history was born in the classrooms of this school as was a desire to know about politics.

I made some great friends, had wonderful conversations (mostly religious or about boys), started a lot of gossips, and crushed on a lot of boys...After 20 years, my good experiences totally outweigh any bad that I had here...I still cannot say that about Lowes.

Thanks to all the girls that worked so hard on planning this reunion (outside of the football game....thank goodness I had a great friend to be with me during this game) I had a PERFECT time!!! Marla and I picked up like we had just talked yesterday and I am going to make it a goal to keep up with her (here comes the FB stalking Marla). Janice, Heather and Brian and I did the same...but we do talk often, thanks to Facebook. If I have not mentioned to you here it is not because I was not glad to see you, but do you realize how many people were in our class? Man, it would take all day to name you all.

There were missing faces, Kelly I wish you could have been there (she was at home in California). You have always had a special place in my heart. Becky was in Canada, I really wanted to reconnect with her, she and I were so close when we were younger.

And one I wanted to see Shane Ashbaugh, may he rest in peace.

Thanks again for a great time, the great memories and the friendship

The Ewings

Well, here we are about to embark on a new adventure with the Ewings. This time with John Ross and Christopher Ewing (JR and Bobby's boys). I for one am looking forward to this new TNT drama.

I remember sitting at my grandmother's house on Friday night (this is one of the only good memories at her house), and she was watching her "program" and would not be interrupted, so I sat down and watched with her. Donna and Ray were in love but would not admit it. Lucy was causing all kinds of problems sneaking around in Ray's house without permission. Pam was having trouble adjusting to being a Ewing and Cliff had it out for JR. WOW, I was sucked in like a vacuum cleaner picking up dirt. I had to have more of this show. I don't think as a child I watched much of it. This kind of show was not really my mom's kind of thing, she is more of a Green Acres type person. When I got all grown up it came on TV and I watched every single episode. I taped them then erased them (wish I had kept them).

My favorite times are when JR and Sue Ellen want to be together but aren't because he is in love with Afton, then she meets Dusty; Pam and Bobby are trying to have a baby but she can't because of Digger's disease...however she WON'T tell Bobby about it. Lucy and Mitch get married and he doesn't like the Ewing money. Cliff gets involved with Afton because JR is just using her and Cliff really cares for her. Sue Ellen and JR get back to together and Bobby and Pam break up and here comes Jenna Wade....this goes on for 14 seasons. The last season is the worst but I did name my cat after one of JR's wives. I love the story...JR goes into the country and beds this lady Callie promising her he will marry her. He ends up leaving her there and her brothers come to find JR and make him marry her. She is a country hick and has no clue how to live the elite life in Dallas. She has to be helped into this role and she paints a lot. She changes JR and eventually he falls in love with her.

My favorite character ever was Kristen Shepard. She was evil, smart, and probably the prettiest thing I have ever seen. She is in real life the daughter of Bing Crosby (Mary Crosby is her name) and on the show, she is really Sue Ellen's sister. She comes on the show looking for a college and ends up bedding JR. Sue Ellen doesn't seem to mind sometimes and that is creepy but that is Dallas. Kristen then gets out of favor with JR and ends up hanging around Lucy's boyfriend, Allen Beam (I hate him), he ends up blackmailing Kristen. JR tells her to get out of Dallas and then BAM!!! She shoots JR!!!!!! Creating a mass question of "who shot JR"...inspiring the world with t-shirts and songs about the shooting of JR. Fun times. I remember my grandmother trying to figure out who shot JR. Once it comes out that Kristen shot JR she claims that she is pregnant by two men and blackmails them both (Jordan Lee and JR). JR sends her away and she has the baby, only to come back to Dallas and die in the pool. Later Bobby and Pam will adopt her baby (really Jeff Faraday is the daddy) and name him Christopher.

See how fun this is? Looking forward to this TNT, it had better be good!!!!!

Shuffle

I thought it might be fun to put my mp3 player on shuffle and see what type of music I was currently listening to. Here they are in order to how they were played during my scrapbook time this afternoon. I think by reading this list you can get a big insight to MIchelle the HuMan! Yeah, I am just a mixed up bundle of mess.

1. Even the nights were better--Air Supply (don't judge)
2. Love Bits--Def Leppard
3. Our House---Madness
4. Oh, what a beautiful morning---Gordan McRae
5. One night in Bangkok--Murray Head
6. Splash Mountain Medley---splash mt WDW
7. I am the Walrus---The Beatles
8. No Sugar tonight/New Mother Nature--the Guess who
9. Good Morning---Gene Kelly and Debbie Reynolds.
10. If you think I don't need you---Elvis Presley
11. From this moment on---Tommy Rall and Ann Miller
12. Mr. Blue Sky---ELO
13. Kiss--Prince
14. Spies like us---Paul McCartney
15. Hallelujah --Bon Jovi
16. Set adrift of memory bliss---PM Dawn
17. Gansta---BBD (oh yeah, love them)
18. Paperback writer---The Beatles
19. Wanderlust---Paul McCartney
20. Paradise City---GNR
21. Amazing---Aerosmith
22. All those years ago---George Harrison
23. I me mine--The Beatles
24. The Enchanted Tiki Room (1971 version)---WDW
25. Porcupine Pie---The Wiggles
26. Living in the sunslight---Tiny Tim
27. Wanted Dead or Alive (live)--Bon JOvi
28. Just got back--Cheap Trick
29. PSSOM--Def Lep (live, acoustic)
30. Universe of Energy---EPCOT
31. Everybody---BSB
32. I dig a pony (anthology)--The Beatles
33. Nobody's Fool---Cinderella
34. Wonderful Tonight---Clapton
35. You got me runnin'---Def Lep
36. I love this town---Bon Jovi
37. You're Sixteen---Ringo
38. SexyBack---JT
39. Run Riot---Def Lep
40. Zero to Hero---Hercules soundtrack
41. You outta know---Alanis
42. Wannabe---The Spice Girls
43. My prerogative--Bobby Brown
44. High n' Dry (Saturday NIght)---Def Lep
45. Over at the Frankenstein place--Rocky HOrror
46. The Time---Black Eyed Peas
47. I left my hat in Haiti---Fred Astaire
48. Watching the Wheels---John Lennon
49. Me and Bobby McGee--Janis Joplin
50. County Bear Jamboree---WDW
51. Dear Prudence---The Beatles
52. Super Trooper---Abba
53. Who's crying now---Journey
54. Come on Eileen---Dexy's Midnight runners
55. Over the rainbow---Isreal IZ Kamakawiwo'ole
56. Let me roll it---Paul McCartney
56. Patience---GNR
57. She's out of my life---MJ
58. 2 Legit 2 Quit--Hammer
59. Land of confusion---Genesis
60. Vienna Calling--Falco
I have over 4000 songs on here, so that is all for now.

Xanadu

Don't judge me because I like Xanadu. No siree bob, don't you dare. Yes, I know Xanadu has been laughed at for years and years and years. Basically, since the day it was released, but think not about the crappy storyline, or that one dude's bad acting...think about the movie.

The movie is an artistic wonder from the get-go. It has some wonderful paintings and that was just the first attraction for me and thrilling animation from Don Bluth. The second is a man that you may never have heard of Gene Kelly. He did a little song and dancing in his younger years, nothing to write home about but that is what he did. In this movie, he only dances twice and once on roller skates, he had to be 70 something when this movie was made. He even danced around Olivia Newton-John and made it appear that she could dance, but Gene was good at that trick (in that past life). This was his last movie by the way.

Kenny Ortega (High School Musical fame) was the choreographer...and I think he did a great job!!!

Then there is the soundtrack, even if Jeff Lynne won't admit it, the music is brilliant. ELO, the Tubes, Gene and Olivia. A perfect score for the fantasy film, set on roller skates.

I am writing this because I bought the movie years ago and watched it many times and then it disappeared. Where was it? I could not find it, I last remembered watching it on the way to Mason Ohio and Great Wolf Lodge. I figured that I dropped it out of the truck while traveling. NO I DID NOT, I found it yesterday, in a computer manual that I never even knew that I opened. I was gathering stuff to get rid of our stupid Celeron computer and there it was in the manual. I have watched it 3 times today. I have missed it so.

The greatest part to me is the ending...Gene Kelly "Drum Dreams" on roller skates. Then Olivia comes in and does a WOWING rendition of "Fool Country" and "First Stage out of this Town" and then "Xanadu".

As a child, my favorite part was after FSOTT (first stage out of this town) the music tempo changes and Xanadu starts, Olivia starts walking up the stage in this silver lame' dress, with her hair in a glitter corn roll type hairdo. I LOVE this part!!!!!

Guys, it's not a great movie plot-wise, as I stated but if you want a visually appealing movie, with great music and Gene Kelly, yeah this one is for you.

Strange things are happening

To borrow a line from the great movie Toy Story, this is my life today. We are closing a chapter. A chapter that has been a part of life for so long, I am not sure how to do things without it. It is hard to change course when you have done something for so long. For seven years Trevor has been dealing with his eye issues. It started when he was little and he was watching tv and John noticed his eye floating all over the place. We go to an eye doctor in Paducah and they say that they cannot help us and send us to a specialist in Carp Girardeau, MO who scares us to death by telling us that he will go blind in that eye if he does not have surgery. She even schedules it for the next week. We can't do that with a $2500 deductible...NO WAY....I start seeking options. I mention at church for them to pray for us because we did not know what we were going to do. A member is with the Lion's Club and he says that they may help us. My friend Rhonda told me this was a great avenue to pursue so off we go. This guys name is Tom and he said we had lots of options, the first being to go see their doctor in Louisville, KY at the Lions Club Eye Clinic. They would even sponsor Trevor to help out with the cost, because our insurance was so bad. So off we go....when we first met Dr. Paul Rychwalski, I thought, he is so young. I had done research on him and supposedly he is VERY good, but I expected him to be older. All he does is deal with people with children and their eye disabilities and diseases. It was a very comforting environment. It did not take Dr. Paul and his assistant long to determine that Trevor had a binocular vision disability and Amblyopia strabismus (lazy eye and misalignment). He would never be cured and would need therapy. I asked about the blindness and surgery and he said "Trevor is not a candidate for surgery because of what he is facing...not at this time" He immediately put us on a harsh (yes harsh) therapy of eye patching. Eye patching is a nightmare to parents. The child does NOT want to wear the patch, doesn't understand why they have to wear the patch and because you are patching the good eye, there is NO depth perception and the vision is whacked up. Who wants to go through that? Especially for 6 hours per day? WOW!!! We did it though (thanks to the preschool teachers who helped us out on this), and returned after 6 weeks, with good progress. It was GREAT progress actually, Dr. Rychwalski was proud of Trevor and said he could tell we were patching. He prescribed more patching.....

Our life over the next few years has been full of patching and an eye drops...Atropine. It was a scary thing to do because I have heard that it can damage the good eye. Also, it allows more sunlight to enter the eye so that it can cause cataracts and other vision issues. You are putting a chemical in the good eye to blur it so the bad eye has to do the focusing. I actually hated the atropine, but Trevor tended to prefer it. Mainly, because his friends had NO idea that there was "something wrong with him". We have had to be very careful with the atropine because we go to theme parks a lot, he plays outside sports and he is a boy and they like the outdoors. I still don't know when we will be able to tell if he has damage because of the sun.

Trevor has gone to the eye doctor every 6 weeks or so for almost 7 years. Because we knew he would never be cured, that we were just getting him to the best that we could get him, our goal was set kind of low....20/50 with visual aids. That means he can read the 20/50 line with the glasses on his face. It has been a back and forth emotional journey....20/70 at the worst and 20/30 at the best. Dr Rychwalski had been so pleased with his results and our determination to help Trevor the best that we could, he let us start seeing a local doctor in 2005. Dr Jeff Taylor. He has been a little bit of wonderful for us as well. He has taken Trevor's goal on as his own. When Trevor was not doing well, he too would get upset about it. When Trevor did well, he was just as excited as we were. I have recommended him to everyone that I know looking for an ophthalmologist because he is so wonderful. He has taken Trevor's concerns to heart as if Trevor were an adult, and this speaks volumes to me. He has been wonderful with my little boy.

Dr Taylor said it was coming, he has warned us for a long time...around the age of 8 Trevor's eye would stop growing and there would be nothing else that we could do. Here we are, age 8 and Dr. Taylor wanted him so badly (right on with us) to read that 20/30 line (that was sort of a secret goal)....Trevor could not do it. We went to the dr last Friday and he said "stop using the drops." This is it the end...20/50 is the best Trevor is going to do. Yes, it is the goal, he will be able to drive a car, it is just bittersweet. There is nothing else we can do to make it better. Trevor really knows no life outside of eye therapy. It is going to be strange all his life we had to put the patch on or drop the drops.

Let me explain his life...He has had to cover up an eye that sees perfectly. Therefore, his vision has been a constant blurry out of alignment mess for almost 7 years. He has never seen a baseball coming at him as his teammates have, he has never read a book like other people, he has never watched tv where he didn't angle his head to be able to see better. I am so proud of the things he has accomplished under these circumstances, he is a great student, he is a very good baseball player (when his bad eye will work like it is supposed to), he is not afraid to try new things, and doesn't know the meaning of "I can't see so I won't do it". He gets out there and tries and most times, he succeeds.

Now that we are at the end, we have to make sure that we have not damaged that good eye. That poor eye has been through a lot over the last 7 years as well. It has had to turn itself off, be covered up and blurred so it could not see a thing. Have we damaged it under all this therapy? Actually that is a possibility. We have finished with all therapy! A hard concept for me to grasp. Trevor is having no issues there. Now we go back in 4 weeks to see if the good eye is ok. To make sure there is no damage. Are we finished going to the eye doctor all the time? We don't know yet. Is this eye going to be ok? We don't know yet. Will he ever need eye surgery on the bad eye? We don't know yet. But I will tell you, it will be nice to not have to go to the eye doctor every other month, it will be nice not to have to use eye drops, it will be nice not to have to put on an eye patch, it will be very nice to see how he hits a baseball using NO therapy. I think I look forward to that...yes I know I do. Now that the good eye will be able to use the depth perception that it has...he may really have a great season.

Trevor has been great through all of this. Yes, he has screamed and cried and ran away from me because I had to do stuff to his eyes, but gosh Trevor it's over. I am proud of you for being such a good boy at the eye doctor all these years, I shall miss playing eye spy with you while we wait for Dr. Taylor. I shall miss playing jeopardy with you in the waiting room. I shall miss buying you a hamburger because you have been such a good boy. I shall miss the nurse saying "why do you never want a sucker?" to you. But I am glad that you will be able to drive a car one day and your mama won't have to drive you and your girlfriend on dates. Yes, that part makes me happy. I don't want to be toting you around when you are 50, I am glad that you will be able to drive and you can tote me around.

Thanks to the doctors who have helped us over the years...Especially to Dr Paul Rychwalski, who was willing to try hard to make my babies life better without putting him under the knife. Thank you for all that you and Dr Taylor have done for my little boy.

Ocean boneless

It has got to be the best fish that I have ever put in my mouth. I have only found it at one restaurant, the Country Crossroads in Hardin. I started eating it as a senior in high school and John and I have been there many times as well. There were times that we would come home from Little Rock and that would be one of the first things we did (that and drink a sundrop).


Over the years that fish has been a favorite....there was a bad time when the restaurant closed. I never knew for sure why, but it did. John and I tried many restaurants at the lakes looking for our ocean boneless, but no one had it. It was a thrill to hear it was reopening...our only hope was that they kept the ocean boneless. They had changed some things, do the decor, but it needed that....and they brought you a plate of hush puppies and cheese sauce! That's was new and exciting! Yummy as well! There it was on the menu, OCEAN BONELESS. The cost was more than before, but I promise you, the taste is worth every penny. It says exactly the same. They did improve their dinner salad (it used to be just lettuce) and the white beans hanger always been good. So we are going to the Country Crossroads this weekend...maybe I will take a photo for you. It'd need worth the time, effort and money for you to drive yourself over to Hardin and pig out on this tasty, yummy treat.

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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.

Back to the future

2010 is closing fast and on its wake comes 2011. One exciting thing to look forward to is a new Presidential campaign. I dearly love this part. The politicking, the surprise candidates, the oldie but goodies, the "where did they come from?" candidate and those you knew would be back. Its one sided this time (cause Obama will be up for reelection) but I still expect fun. Huckabee is my prime choice to run, I want him to win....and behind him is a lady from Alaska...maybe a governor from Louisiana...or ME!

I look forward to the fun, to the speeches, to a good clean campaign! Be honest, fair and smart....one of you is going to get a chance to run for the job of President of the United States of America. And I hope you know just how lucky you are...

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My app choices

I am reading all these people posting about their apps, and I thought, "Hey why don't you share your app experience?" I have to say that the apps on the droidx are just on this side of wonderful.

Here are some of the ones that I love:
2011 countdown
A Farewell to Arms (movie)
Amazon
Amazon mp3
Astro file manager
Backgrounds
Barcode scanner
Bic concert lighter
Blockbuster
Blogger-droid (a fave)
Breaking Dawn countdown
Bubble popper
Cracker Barrel
Crossword light
Dish network
droid forum
gas buddy
gererala free
gesture search
facebook
IMDb
Key Ring
Kindle
Latitude
Lightning Bug
LIve TV
Maps
Millionaire
My Verizon
My Cast Weather
Navigation
News
PDA net
tip calculator
skype
star trek soundboard
stitcher
team coco
TMZ
TV.com
Twilight in Forks
Twitter
Google Voice
Word UP!!!
You Tube
Yams
Wikidroid
Google Goggles
Google Sky Map
Photoshop mobile
Trip Journal
As more apps are made, more illegal content becomes available you might want to look into an anitvirus. (A Trojan has been found in China) I use Norton and it has many very cool features.

STill look for a cool pdf reader for a few pdf documents AND for the KY digital download library to be available on the droid market, that is one thing I miss about my windows phone. I could go to the library and download books to my phone...and they were mine for 2 weeks...I miss that.

I hear that SPB mobile shell is coming out with a droidx version. I had that on my windows phone and must say it was the most perfect interface ever!!!

The gang's all here

I do believe that I have seen this movie about 50 times. It is about a guy (Andy) in the service that is engaged to a girl (Vivan) at home but meets a song girl (Edie) in a club and falls in love, but they give each other fake names (Casey and whatever that fake name that she was using was). She comes and sees him off to war. He goes to the South Pacific fights a good fight and comes home a war hero...while he is traveling home, his wealthy father decides to throw him a big party when he gets home. Problem is the club that Andy loves is closed so dear old dad has the whole club and all their entertainers stay at his house and his neighbor's house, the party will be at Andy's home. A great scene is when the remarkable Charlotte Greenwood does this dance with a dancer and displays the highest kicks I have ever seen anyone do in a musical...Her legs are SOOOOOO longs (she stood around 6 feet tall). Back to the plot, Andy's real-life girlfriend, Vivian and Edie have no idea that they have been swapping stories about their man and that their man is the same man. Meanwhile, Dorita (played by the wonderful Carmen Miranda) figures is all out and tries to stop the two girls from discovering what's up. All fails and Edie figures are out but take the high road, when Andy does come home and is all surprised about the party and Edie being there she pretends to love another. Andy is heartbroken but after the show, he convinces Edie and Vivian that it is Edie he loves.

Why am I telling you about this corny movie? Here are some reasons that this movie is worth watching:

1. The aforementioned Charlotte Greenwood scene
2. The leaving for the camp scene in which Edie calls "Casey" (she knows him) by the name of "Andy" but later when she learns "Casey" is "Andy" she is very surprised.
3. It's directed by Busby Berkley so there are FABULOUS, over the top dance numbers.
4. Carmen Miranda sings the lady in the Tootie fruity hat and it is simply perfection!!!
5. Benny Goodman sings a song about a town called "Paducah" and if you wanna you can rhyme it with bazooka.
6. And lastly, it is just a mindless entertaining movie...a weak plot, but lots of dance numbers and shows you how much Americans cheered for their country. My favorite line is "If you had a beard you would remind me of my two favorite men, Santa Claus, and Uncle Sam".

2010 a review

First of all the celebrity deaths (in no certain order)
Blake Edwards
Kathryn Grayson
Jean Simmons
Elizabeth Edwards
Don Meredith
Ted Sorel
Leslie Nielson
Jill Clayburgh
Tony Curtis
Tom Bosley
Eddie Fisher
Dennis Hopper
Gary Coleman
Art Linkletter
JD Salinger
Corey Haim
Dixie Carter
Peter Graves
Lynn Redgrave
Barbara Billingsley
Irvin Kershner
Teddy Pendergrass
Merlin Olson
Fess Parker
John Forsythe
Eddie Carroll
Lena Horne
Rue McClanahan
Jimmy Dean
George Steinbrenner
Ilene Woods
Patrica Neal
Ted Stevens
Gloria Staurt


some of the books that I read in 2010 (some of the best books):

The Pool of St Branok (Philippa Carr)
Wonderful Tonight (Patti Boyd)
The Changeling (Philippa Carr)
A Walk to Remember
The Notebook (it kind of is my grandparents death story)
The Black Swan (Philippa Carr)
A Time for Silence (Philippa Carr)
Rainwater
A Farewell to ARms (Hemingway....love this book)
Beaches (another good book)
Short life of Bree Tanner
Eclispe
Twilight
New Moon
Breaking Dawn
Travels in Alaska (John Muir)
The Death and Life of Charlie St Cloud
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
STicken (John Muir)
Abraham Lincoln vampire hunter (in print and audio book)








Wish I had kept up with the number of scrapbook pages made in 2010! It would be in the hundreds (more than 100, I would say less than 300). Maybe not, I just did 23 today.


Number of photos taken in 2010 9,438

Places visited in 2010:
Cincinnati Ohio/Great American Ballpark
St Louis MO/Busch Stadium (2 times)
Jackson TN/Red Robin
Nashville TN/Red Robin
Columbus Belmont Park
Graves County High School
Ketchikan, AK
Skagway, AK
Victoria, BC
Juneau, AK
Seattle, WA
Dallas, TX
Mineral Wells, TX
Little Rock, AR
Bowling Green, KY
Atlanta, GA
Orlando, FL
Daytona, FL
Evansville, IN
Airports in Albuquerque, NM and Des Plaines, IL
Louisville, KY
Lexington, KY
Santa Claus, IN
Lincoln's boyhood home
Cave City, KY
Memphis, TN

Big Events of 2010 (to me):
Meeting Peter Facinelli
Going to the baseball parks
Going back to Alaska (I am so enthralled by those glaciers)
5 visits to Archiver's (the most ever in one year)
Big Texas wedding
Hanging with Lauren Champion
Eating at Doe's with the hubby
Making my first ever batch of dressing and it was good!!!
Submitting scrapbook work, even if I haven't been chosen to be published yet, I have tried!
Hogsmeade!!!!!!!!!
Getting to spend more time in EPCOT (still not enough but I made it through MOST of world showcase)
Tyler Hall visit
BON JOVI
Justin Bieber (just because I got to hang out with Tammy)
Taking the kids to Mammoth Cave (their first time)
Finally having my picture made in front of the welcome to Alaska sign on the Klondike highway!
Discovering Tim HOltz's distressing products (I can't get enough)
Seeing my boy score a touchdown AND pitch an inning in baseball!
Hearing that my daughter is amazing at the flute and gets to attend those fancy district thingys
Eclipse (and taking Hannah to the midnight show)
discovery of the e-reader!!!
discovery of the audio book (yeah, I know I am behind)
the getting of the best phone ever, the Droid X (I love everything that it can do)
Having the OBOE staff to my house!!!!
Discovery of peppermint dark chocolate lindor truffles
Prima flowers!!!!!!
Lambert's with the kids!!!
Makay's bookstore, I could spend DAYS here!!!! DAYS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

News events that I want to remember from 2010:

Big earthquakes in Haiti and Chile

Winter Olympics and Evan winning the first male gold medal in figure skating since Brian Boitono

Volcano eruption in Iceland

Record set for a painting sold at auction (a Picasso)
Favorite apps of 2010:

oh yeah I must list some of the apps that have proven to waste my time!!

Bubble Popper
Blogger-droid
Bic concert lighter
droid forum
dish network
facebook (duh)
gas buddy
Key ring
kindle
laputa
millionaire
quickoffice
ringdroid
tmz
twilight in forks
word up
crossword
team coco
IMDb
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There are many things to be thankful for:

what makes it all happen....God
My son bordering on that 20/50 line
the good health of my family
food and shelter
family and friends
the ability to see (by far my favorite sense)
this is a never ending list...and for that I am grateful!

Here's to a great 2011!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1