Weekend Wrap up

Well, I had a pretty boring weekend, so this is going to be a short post!  I didn't do much of anything.  I did get to sleep late on Saturday, which means 8:00.  Of course, that was after getting up with the dogs at 4:30 and again around 6:00.  I watched some football games on Saturday.  For some reason, when I sleep late, it seems like I'm more tired during the day and a lot less motivated.
I managed to make it to a local thrift store.  Some of the Speech people have been talking on FB & their blogs about their finds at Goodwill and other thrift stores, so I decided to give it a go.  I found Candyland and Rummikub for $2 each!  AND, all of the pieces are there!  One of the ladies that I camp with taught me how to play Rummikub, and there's a group that plays every time we camp.
I got up early on Sunday and got caught up with the last 2 episodes of "Revenge" so I'd be ready for the season premier last night.  CH & I drove out to the RV dealership to look at some Class B campers.  I'm not real sure what's wrong with the camper we have...it's perfect for us and keeps us dry when it rains.  That's all I need!
Sunday morning I took Pepper for a walk in the park.  I didn't take Laika because she's a little hard for me to handle when I have Pepper, too, and she goes to the dog part and for walks more than Pepper does.  Ally's little legs just can't handle a good walk anymore.
We did our usual Mexican Sunday evening dinner,  I did some laundry and managed to do a little housework over the weekend, too.  Oh!  AND I made out our menu for the next 2 weeks and got my grocery list together so I can go to the grocery store tomorrow after work.
All in all, a pretty relaxing weekend.  Hope yours was just as relaxing!

Friday Frags

Half-Past Kissin' Time

~  1 more week until Fall Break!  Can't. Wait!

~  Things are still crazy busy at work.  I thought they were going to slow down after Break, but things keep popping up...like kids needing IEPs.

~  I'm just really glad I have a decent intern this semester.  She's very enthusiastic, and is a real go-getter. 

~  Community band and Flute Choir both started up a couple of weeks ago.  Last year I practiced every day; this year...not so much.  I just haven't had the time.  (Maybe starting another blog has something to do with it.)

~  I've decided I'm waaay over-worked this year.  I have the largest caseload in the school system, and am the only Speech Path. who has a special ed preschool and am responsible for another school.  I'm not doing something right.  Either that, or somebody is trying to get rid of me.  (Not going to happen!)

~  100 days 'til Downton Abbey!!!

~  Finds for the week:
At Aldi:  "Spargel" was very popular in Germany when we were there.  I tasted this while I was there, but couldn't bring myself to actually buy any when I saw it the other day.
Also in Aldi:  Something else that I had in Germany.  Spaetzle is like an egg noodle.  I haven't tried this yet...maybe over the weekend.

 I saw these in Kroger.  If you like pumpkin, you'll love these!
 ~  I'm looking forward to a nice quiet weekend; what are your plans?

Fall Wednesday Hodgepodge


1. What's one thing that's still the same about you as when you were young?
I'm still not a big vegetable eater.

2. What's more important-history or science? Why?
I started to answer one way, but then found reasons to answer another!  So...I have no idea.  That's my final answer.

3. Lima, kidney, string, garbanzo, black or pinto-your favorite bean?
Love me some pinto beans & cornbread!  What Southern girl doesn't?

4. What's something people come to your town to do?
The Small Town has "Freedomfest" the Saturday before the 4th of July.  It wasn't held for a few years because of budget cuts, but it started back up this summer.

5. When was the last time you were in a meeting? Sum it up for us in five words or less. 
This morning.  16 meetings in 16 days.

6. What special event would you like a VIP pass to attend?
I would LOVE to go back to Wimbledon during Wimbledon.  Or, the US Open.

7. What's one piece of advice you'd give a writer?
Know the difference between 'it's' and 'its' and 'there', 'their', and 'they're'.

8.  Insert your own random thought here.
Did anybody watch "Hostages" Monday night?  I caught it last night On Demand.  It looks pretty good.  I don't know how I feel about Dylan McDermott playing a bad guy, though.

Weekend Wrap-up

I'm really doing well with blogging, aren't I?  I was going to at least try to get out a post on Friday, but I had this little thing called "flute choir" on Thursday, then I rushed home and got my stuff ready for Friday after work, 'cause guess what we did!
The group that we go camping with a lot were having a get-together a couple of hours away from us.  We went to a state campground that we had wanted to go to last year, but couldn't get in.  

The moon on Friday night was gorgeous peeking through the trees:
As happens very often with us, it rained.  It rained hard, y'all!
We're perfecting the art of keeping everything dry:
(Ignore my "luggable loo"...we didn't use it since we were right across from the bath house.)
CH is getting used to cooking breakfast in the rain:
Pancakes were on the menu.  Have y'all tried the banana granola nut peanut butter from Planters?  It was remarkable on the pancakes!
I spent part of Saturday doing this:
Playing a little "10-20-30" and reading a new book that I bought from the school's book fair.
When we camp with our group, Saturday night dinners are potluck.  There's always an enormous amount of good food, and this was no exception.  It was even cool enough that night to have our first campfire of the season:
Sunday morning was a sausage, biscuit, and eggs kind of morning:
Notice the sun peeking through?
I think CH discovered the secret to almost perfect biscuits in the dutch oven:  take the oven off of the bottom coals, but leave the top coals on for a little longer.  Almost perfect!
As I was taking the panels off of the easy-up, I saw this little guy:
 I hadn't seen a walking stick (or a "stick bug" as YS & his girlfriend called it!) in years.  Later, this was on YS' tent:
Not sure if it was the same one or another one.  Pretty neat, though.
As we were leaving, we rode up to the overlook and took some pictures.





I really wish it had been pretty on Saturday so we could've done some hiking on the trails.  There's a waterfall nearby that I didn't get to go to.  Maybe next time!
How was your weekend?

Last Wednesday Hodgepodge of the Summer


Looks like this is the last Hodgepodge of the summer!  Come on, Fall!!!

1. When did you last sing happy birthday to someone? When were you last sung to? Does that embarrass you or do you enjoy being the center of attention on your special day?
I sang "Happy Birthday" to my daddy on Sept. 4th.  My parents call all of us and sing "Happy Birthday" on our birthdays.

2.  Name a famous or 'infamous' person (living or deceased) who shares your birth day and month. Is that someone you'd like to meet in person if it were possible?
Sam Walton.  I suppose it would be neat to meet the original "Walmartian".

3. Someone hands you a box tied up in a lovely bow...what are you hoping to find inside?
I'm not much of a jewelry person...I would say tickets to someplace I haven't been.  Or, it could be tickets to someplace I've already been!

4. What can you guarantee about yourself?
I will do something to make a complete idiot out of myself.  Happens more times than I care to think about!

.
5. Talking art and beautiful cities here...'The Last Supper' in the Santa Maria della Grazie Abbey in Milan Italy or 'The Mona Lisa' in The Louvre, Paris...which would you most like to see up close and in person?  Why?
The Last Supper because, heeeeello...it's in Italy.

6. Your favorite dessert?
Cake, ice cream, chocolate.  I'm not too picky about my dessert!  

7. This coming weekend marks the official start of autumn (in the Northern hemisphere)...what is something you do to get ready for fall? What is one thing you're looking forward to on your fall calendar? Spring or fall-which do you prefer?
I LOVE fall!  Can't wait for it to get cool enough to have a campfire at a campsite!

8.  Insert your own random thought here.
Did anybody watch "Dancing with the Stars" Monday night?  I was amazed at how well most of the contestants did.  I felt really bad for Bill Nye...I couldn't tell if he was suppose to be that stiff, or if it was just him.  I love Valerie Harper.  That being said, I did feel like she got the "sympathy" scores.  I definitely didn't feel she was as good as some of the other ones who scored as high as she.

Weekend Wrap-Up

It seems like the only posts I'm able to get up lately are the wrap-up and the Wednesday Hodgepodge.  I didn't even do a Friday Frags on Friday!  I feel a little guilty linking up on Wed. & Fri. but not visiting very many blogs.  Hopefully that will change very, very soon.
~  I actually left school on time on Friday, and guess what?  I  didn't take anything home with me to work on!  Big, ginormous "WOO-HOO" for that one!  I had some running around to do before I went home (chiropracter, Target...you know, the important stuff!), and ended up with some seasonal goodies:  Caramel Apple Milky Ways, candy corn & peanuts (you can buy them already mixed up, but I wasn't sure how great they taste), Pumpkin Spice M&Ms, and Starburst candy corn.  I haven't opened the bag  yet, so if you've tried them, warn me first!  Don't you just love Targets' candy supply this time of year?

~  I didn't just buy candy.  They had a couple of movies I didn't have that were under $10:  Fried Green  Tomatoes and Leap Year.

~  Chinese Take-out was the perfect dinner after a long, busy week.  Then I took advantage of my Amazon Prime Trial and watched "What to Expect When You're Expecting".  It reminded me of "Love Actually" (which was on Sat. night) the way that the lives intertwined.  Really cute movie.

~  Saturday, CH & YS met CH's aunt's family and his brother at a town about 1 1/2 hours from here.  Since this was the 1st weekend since school started that I didn't have to do school work, I stayed home and took advantage of a quiet house.  I had some things to do in town (Dollar Tree-love that store!-, Shoe Carnival-had to get some decent shoes to wear with long pants, Michaels-they have the coolest storage case, Office Depot, and then a quick trip to Kroger for a few things), then I went home and did laundry and got the house cleaned up.  Vacuuming, dusting, and just a good cleaning up.  As I finished up the UT game came on.  My hopes were high, but soon plummeted.  I swear that was the longest game I've ever seen in my life!

~  I loved the weather Sat. morning.  We had the windows closed Friday night, so I opened them in the morning.  Sleeping with the windows open is one of my favorite things...as long as it's cool outside!

~  Sunday was another productive day:  I made 3 batches of cookies.  (By "made", I mean that I opened up the package, put the pieces on my stone, and baked them.)  I printed out some materials for the week, and laminated and cut them out.  I ran by Big Lots and bought another clock...this is my 4th clock in 2 years.  The first one fell off of the wall and broke, the second one was broken by a TA who was testing someone in my room (the student said she tapped the clock to show him the time, and it fell off), and the last one's hands just stopped moving.  I put in a new battery, but those stinkin' hands won't move!  Hopefully this one will stay on the wall and will work!  None of the clocks were more than $10, but if this one breaks, I'm thinking I may have to splurge and get a decent one.

~  I ran by Food Lion on the way home & got 2 boxes of Spice Cake Mix since Kroger was completely out on Saturday.  So...I managed to get a batch of pumpkin spice muffins made.  MS & his g'friend and YS & his g'friend all came for dinner (it's always our Mexican night).  AND, I talked to OS on the phone.

~  After dinner, MS & I started looking over my pictures from Germany.  Then, he pulled up his pictures from Germany.  He doesn't have very many since his camera broke soon after he got there.  But, he did have this picture:
Which is him standing to the left of the same statue YS & I stood next to over the summer:
As we were looking through his pictures, it was pretty neat to see that I had taken pictures of the same thing!

All in all, an excellent weekend!  Hope yours was just as wonderful and productive!

Growing up with the Hodgepodge


Is it Wednesday already?  Fall Break will be here before you know it!  The questions for this week:

1. What's the best thing about growing older?
Freedom.  Seriously.  The kids are pretty much raised, and we can leave for the weekend and know that the house is going to be standing when we get back.

2. When did you first feel like a grown up?
When I do, I'll let you know!

3. Chocolate cake with white icing or white cake with chocolate icing?
What happened to chocolate cake with chocolate icing???

4. What's the nicest thing a stranger has ever done for you?
I guess it's just the little things like letting me go ahead of him/her in the grocery store line.   
5.  What's something you learned from your grandparents?
If you know/knew your grandparents, I hope you know how lucky you are.  3 of my grandparents were already deceased by the time I came along.  My maternal grandmother lived in Tx., and we only saw her every other year.  I only remember seeing her out of her wheelchair once, and even then she had to hold onto the countertop to get around the kitchen.  So, sadly, I don't think I can answer this one.

6. Wednesday marks a sad day in the history of planet earth-9/11...what's something you do (or can do) to bring peace to your little corner of the world?
I'm definitely a "Don't rock the boat" kind of person...most of the time.  I can get along with anybody; in fact, I can count on 1 hand the number of people that I just haven't ever been able to get along with.

7.  Share a favorite quote, scripture, or song containing the word peace.
"Let there be peace on earth, and let it begin with me."

8.  Insert your own random thought here.
I can't believe I didn't post these 2 pictures on Monday!  The first is our annual sisters' weekend picture:
I didn't notice until after we got home that Mama has her oldest girl on 1 side, and the youngest on the other.
What are we holding in our hands?  One of my SILs made these "Redneck Wineglasses" for us:
She saw it on Pinterest and made them for us.  It's a candle holder with a mason jar on top!  And, just to make it "classy", she put our names on it!  

Weekend Wrap-up

Whew!   What a weekend!  I got started on it just a few minutes later than I thought I was going to.  I had a meeting at 1:30 that ended up lasing for about 1 1/2 hours.  It ended right at the time we are allowed to leave.  I went back to my room, threw stuff down, picked up my pocketbook, and headed out the door for:
SISTERS' WEEKEND!!!
We went to a different cabin this time.  Last year, one of my SILs mentioned that one of her cousins had rented a cabin and the pictures looked awesome.  We looked at the price, and it was the same amount that we paid the last couple of years.
The drive up to the cabin was nice...until the very end of the drive.  It was a steep climb the rest of the way up, with a few switchback turns.  The worst part was getting in the driveway:  we had to make a hard left turn, and there was a bit of an upslope.  Coming down I would call it a "drop-off".  It was so steep that my wheels spun a little as I was went up the driveway.  Oh, but the view when we got to the top was just amazing:

The sunsets were just as amazing:







Friday night for dinner, we had french loaf pizzas (delicious!).  As usual, Friday night was full of talking and laughing.  Someone may have gotten some salad tossed on her, but she was just glad it was dry salad and not wine.
Saturday morning we had bacon, eggs, biscuits, and fruit.  Before breakfast, we enjoyed some coffee on the deck looking at the wonderful view.

Not too shabby, huh?  
We watched the UT game on tv Saturday afternoon, and did some reading.
(We're nerds that way!)
By that time, we had gotten "most" of our chattiness out of the way, so we spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing.  At one point, I went to the downstairs deck and sat on the swing...until I was about to fall asleep, so I moved to the bed and took a little nap.

For lunch, my SIL made these incredible ham & cheese sandwiches.  They were put on rolls, and had some kind of saucy thing over the top.  Did I mention how wonderful they were?

Saturday night, everybody brought steaks and one of my sisters grilled them.  We had salad & baked potatoes with them.  One of my sisters made The Pioneer Woman's "The Bread".  For dessert (which we ate a few hours later), another sister made a dessert with a graham cracker crust, layered with vanilla pudding & cool whip, another graham cracker crust, chocolate pudding & cool whip, and more graham crackers.

Sunday morning, we packed up and headed back down the mountain.  We stopped at a restaurant on "the peaceful side of the Smokies" for a breakfast buffet, then headed on home.
While the cabin was nice, it was a little smaller than we thought it was going to be.  All of us couldn't sit in the upstairs living area; some had to sit at the kitchen table.  Apparently the ride up just about did my Mom in.  
Friday night, we (and by "we" I mean one of my sisters & SIL) realized we didn't have any potholders.  Saturday morning one of my other sisters called the office and asked if they could bring some to us, and she was told that we could come down and get them.  (The office wasn't just down the road...it was a good 3 miles-downhill-to it.  And then we would've had to go back up the mountain navigating the switchbacks.)  She told the employee that we didn't want to go back down the mountain until we had to, and was told that everyone was cleaning cabins so there wasn't anyone to bring them.  I didn't even think about this, but one of my sisters said that they used the same towels for the kitchen & bathroom, which is kind of disgusting when you think about it.  My sister also asked about toilet paper (thinking there was a chance we may run out) and was told that we were responsible for the toilet paper.  (It turned out we had plenty, which was a good thing!)  
Saturday night, we tried to watch a movie, but the dvd wouldn't play.  I finally got it to start, and it played the previews, but then wouldn't play the movie.  It was an old dvd player...it also had a vcr in it.
The building was pretty nice, though.  4 bedrooms with a bathroom in each.  3 bedrooms had king-sized beds, and one had 2 queen (or maybe they were just double) beds.  There was a pool table downstairs.  The air conditioner and appliances worked fine.  We just didn't think the view outweighed everything else, so we don't think we're going to go back there.  We would have liked to have had the option to go into town and looked around, but didn't feel like we had that option after we got up to the cabin.
The weekend was just what I needed:  time away from work and the temptation to work (I didn't take my laptop).  And now it's back to reality!

Wednesday Hodgepodge


Time again for the Hodgepodge!  How do you like my creative title? 

1. What's something you're never too young or too old to enjoy?
Ice Cream.  'nuff said!

2. Share one happy memory from your high school years.
Band Camp.  Okay, go ahead and laugh and say, "One time at band camp..."  But honestly, the best days of my life.  Especially my freshman year.

3. A nationwide strike of fast food employees took place in the U. S. last week...they're calling for higher wages and the right to unionize? Your thoughts?
I'm way out of touch!  I had no idea.  I'm sure it's hard to live on minimum wage; I don't know how they do it.

4. September is National Honey Month...what's a favorite dish you make or eat that calls for honey?
I don't eat much honey.  I do like it in tea on a hot day, though.

5.  If you notice someone with a tag sticking out, a button unbuttoned, a shirt on inside-out, or some leftover lunch stuck between their teeth do you say something or do you keep quiet? 
 I say something.  I'd want someone to tell me.

6. What movie always makes you cry?  Or at least makes you feel like crying?
PS I Love You.  I cry through the whole movie.  Y'all know how much I love "The Family Stone".  That one makes me cry, too.

7.   'Mary Had a Little Lamb' was written in May of 1830, and published inJuvenile Miscellany in September of that same year.  Now for the fun part...create your own four line rhyme using that same tune.
School is driving me crazy, me crazy, me crazy.
School is driving me crazy, I need a little break.
Fall break is 4 weeks away, weeks away, weeks away.
Fall break is 4 weeks away, please hurry don't delay!

8.  Insert your own random thought here.
 It's Wednesday!  You know what that means:

Weekend Wrap-up

~  Well, the big game was on Friday.  This is what I did instead of going to the game:
I didn't even watch it on tv....probably a good thing because Small Town got hammered.  YS & his g'friend came home after half-time.

~ I ran into a guy I knew from high school at the grocery store Sat. morning.  He & his wife were in town for the game; he was recognized for being inducted in the county Hall of Fame.  I don't think I'd seen him since a couple of years after I graduated.  What a great guy.  His mom was the guidance counselor at the high school when I was there.

~  One of my sisters' high school friends (and we were both in the Communicative Disorders Dept. in college...and I used to see her at the SC Speech-Language-Hearing Association Conventions) posted this on FB:
So true, so true!  Right color, wrong logo, though!

~  CH & I saw "The Butler" on Sunday.  Excellent movie.  I cried off & on during the whole thing.  After the movie,  we had questions about what was true and what was made up for the movie.  A couple of things that weren't true were a little disappointing, but I guess they need to embellish it for impact.

~  I made an amazing Banana Bread Cake over the weekend.  Someone posted the recipe on FB and I had to try it.  CH & YS really liked it; I think it has too much icing.
~   Amazon had Sandra Brown books on sale for $1.99 in their Kindle store on Saturday.  I ended up with 6 (or 7) that I hadn't read.  I'm really glad I caught the sale because Sunday they went back up.  And then on Sunday, they had Jefferson Bass book for $1.99.  Just in case you don't know who Jefferson Bass is (or, are since it's actually 2 people), Dr. Bill Bass is the developer of "The Body Farm" at the University of Tennessee.  Patricia Cornwall wrote a book about it.

~  And the savings continued over the weekend:  On Friday I received a notification on my phone that I had a 40% off Michaels coupon.  I found this neat thing to keep my speech cards in:
I had already decided that when I get more big sales coupons, I was going to go get more.  Weeeelll, yesterday I had a 50% coupon on my phone!!!  I didn't actually get to use it when I went to get one because it was on sale anyway.  But, I did have a 15% off coupon that I did get to use, so it was almost 50% off.  SCORE!!!

Here we go with another week.  Community Band and Flute Choir start back up this week.  Good thing I got ahead on my paperwork!

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