MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM OUR HOUSE TO YOURS

Merry Christmas everyone!!! I've been running around the last couple of days like a chicken with my head cutoff and can you believe it........I do not have one thing to do today!!! That's right! And you know what......it just feels wrong!!!! I baked yesterday with mom, the presents have been wrapped for a few days now. We will be traveling to Cortney's in the morning to celebrate with our girls and their families!

For all of you traveling, have safe travels and may everyone have a Merry Christmas and remember the real Reason for the Season!!!

Happy Friday Everyone!

Just wanted to pop in and say "Happy Friday everyone"!! I'm headed to Little Rock this morning to take care of Cade and Ridge and I'll be bringing Reid back to Pop and Mimi's for the weekend. I hope you all have a FANTASTICAL weekend! As for me, it's party time with Reiders......anything goes!!!

A Whirlwind Week

To say last week was a crazy week is an understatement! First of all, Alvin and I celebrated our 37th wedding anniversary on Tuesday, Thankgiving on Thursday and my 29th birthday on Friday!!!

This year we did something a little different. Our girls and their families always have Thanksgiving lunch with their in-laws and then come to our house on Thanksgiving evening for dinner with us. Alvin and I usually travel to Mountain View with Alvin's sister, Fay and her husband Tom and my niece Cindy and her family and have lunch at Cody's Restaurant. Long story short Cody's closed and Alvin and I decided to spend Thanksgiving in Branson.

We knew it would be sooooooo crowded in Branson on Friday, but seriously thought it would be a ghost town on Thanksgiving day. You can only imagine our dismay when we pulled into Cracker Barrel for lunch and the host said it would be an hour and a half to two hours!!!! Usually they tell you that to scare you off!!!! Oh no, you are NOT scaring us off!!!! We drove three and a half hours to get here and we want some Cracker Barrel turkey and dressing!!!!! Well.......we got our turkey and dressing at Cracker Barrel and hour and a half later!!!!! But, boy was it worth the wait!!

Anywho, the kiddo's all drove up on Friday morning and we spent the day at Silver Dollar City. It was the most beautiful day I believe I've ever seen. Seriously, I bet it was at least 70 degrees!! We had sooooo much fun. If you've live within driving distance to Branson and have never been around Christmas time, you've got to go!!!! It is gorgeous!!! Silver Dollar City is decorated with over 4 million lights........it is something to behold. The Christmas tree is five stories high and gorgeous!!!

Casey and Josh in front of some snowmen decor.

Ryan, Cortney, Ridge, Reid and Cade with a cute little snowmen family!

I was really disappointed with the picture of the tree. It was so pretty in real life. It changes colors, blue, red and green!
(I took this picture as I was coming up the hill, so the tree looks really small).

Sweet Ridge enjoying his pears!

Later that night we went to Landry's Seafood and celebrated my birthday. The girls had me a fresh strawberry cake made (my favorite). It was delish! I'm pretty sure I gained five pounds from the cake alone! lol

I was a little disappointed in this picture. You could barely even see Ridge sitting at the end of the table.

Saturday morning we got up and hit the malls and the Branson Landing. It was so good to be able to get the entire family together. Usually someone is missing.

Now that we have the whirlwind week behind us, it's on to Christmas! I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving.

Happy 37th Anniversary to the Love of my Life

The first time ever I saw your face

I thought the sun rose in your eyes

And the moon and stars were the gifts you gave

To the dark and the empty skies, my love,

To the dark and the empty skies.

The first time ever I kissed your mouth

And felt your heart beat close to mine

Like the trembling heart of a captive bird

That was there at my command, my love

That was there at my command.

And the first time ever I lay with you

I felt your heart so close to mine

And I knew our joy would fill the earth

And last till the end of time my love

It would last till the end of time my love

The first time ever I saw your face, your face,

your face, your face.

Roberta Flack

An evening with Pioneer Women

For a blogger, getting to meet the Pioneer Woman is just the crem de la crem! I mean seriously.....it can't get much better!!! When Pioneer Woman announced her book tour a few months back and Little Rock was on it, I nearly peed my pants. It was sooooo much fun even though I really thought it should have been at a bookstore. You know we have bookstores in Arkansas too, Barnes and Noble, Books A Million and Hastings to name a few. However, being in Arkansas we had our book signing at Walmart. That's right folks.......good ole Walmart. Can I say how proud I am that amazingly enough, not one person showed up in their bathrobe with pink sponge rollers in their hair and a cigarette hanging out their mouth! LOL

The book signing began at 6:00. Thankfully Cortney and I went an hour early. It didn't take long for the line to go from zero to infinity!!! Poor Ree, I bet she didn't get finished signing all those books until the wee hours of the morning. Cortney and I were about 5oth in line and it took us an hour and a half to reach her!! Time went by pretty fast though. We met some new bloggers and even ran into a fellow blogger, sweet Leigh Ann!

Marlboro Man was even there. OMG!!!! We were so excited to meet him. He was such a sweetie, going down the line talking to everyone, signing autographs and being kind enough to have his picture made with all us crazy ladies that know some much about him. I mean does he know that we know that his voice broke the night he and Ree were talking about Nell being a "sweetie". Mercy me, he has no clue that we know so much about him and he knows absolutely nothing about us crazy women!!!

Isn't she the cutest thing. She's so tall and thin and her hair is gorgeous!

And finally, it was our turn. She was so witty. I asked her if she would do her Ethel Merman impersonation and she belted out "there's no business like show business". Too cute!!!

Her we are with The Pioneer Woman. I mean could I have gotten any closer! LOL Sorry PW, looks like I'm trying to fit right up under your arm like a piece of jigsaw puzzle!

It was so wonderul meeting PW, thanks for coming to Little Rock, even though it was at Walmart! Come back anytime, when you've got longer to stay!!!

My View

Hey everyone! I hope you've had a terrific week so far. For you guys tomorrow is Friday and for me tomorrow is my Tuesday! Crazy I know, but that's how we roll at 37,000 ft.

Like you guys, I take my camera everywhere (hey, that's what we bloggers do, huh). Ever since I started this job almost six years ago I've taken my camera with me. You would not even begin to believe the pictures I taken in those few short years. Well, a few months back I was working in the aft galley when our captain comes on the PA and announces Lake Tahoe could be seen outside the left side of the aircraft. It was a full flight and I couldn't get to a window to take a good picture, so I took a picture looking out my little peep hole in the aft galley. As you can see the picture turned out fantastic (double-click to enlarge). Since then, I have taken numerous pictures through my little peep hole.

Anywho, I decided tonight that at various times I will be showing you what I see during my trips that you might not have a chance to see unless you are at 37,000 feet.

Hopefully, you'll enjoy seeing the clouds, sunsets, sunrises and various sights thru my eyes at 37,000 feet (and sometimes on the ground).

Wordless Wednesday

Halloween Happenings

Alvin and I had a wonderful weekend. Ryan and Cortney left for New York on Friday and guess who watched the grands for a couple of days?!?!?! Yup, you guessed it......Pop and Mimi, with Gigi (my mom) in tow we took off to Little Rock Friday morning.

It turned out to be the most beautiful day Saturday. Who could resist being outdoors all day enjoying the sun, so off to the zoo we go. The boys enjoyed being outdoors as much as we did, plus the animals were all out too!

Afterwards it was time to get dressed for trick or treating.

Count Dracula

Dash (unmasked)

The cutest little sock monkey ever!

We turned the grands over to Ryan's parents yesterday afternoon and headed home. What a wonderful weekend!!! I hope you all had a fun Halloween and hope you have a terrific week ahead!

These boots were made for splashin'

Hi everyone!!!! Boy have I missed you guys........whew, it's been awhile hasn't it? Ya know I could use all kinds of excuses for missing in action lately, like Facebook, Farmville, Facebook, Farmville or maybe Facebook or Farmville, but I won't I'll just say, I've been busy!!! Anywho, I reeeeeeally have missed you! Ok, you get the picture, enough already. For now, I'm back! Hopefully, I'll stay on track this time.

I don't know about you guys, but I promise it has rained soooooooo much lately in Arkansas, that we've threatened to start building an ark! Well, almost. As matter of fact it started out being the most beautiful day. The sun was shining, the birds were singing and Lou and I were able to get our three mile walk in, yeah............well that didn't last long. It literally looks as if the bottom is going to fall out of the sky as I type. So...........if it's been raining in your neck of the woods or there is rain in the forecast you need to run out and buy a pair of these.............

The polka dot boots belong to Lou. As you can see they are totally her personality with the bright red (you can see the bright colors in her bed linens).

As for me I LUV all things animal print! Aren't they the cutest things ever?!?!?! I bet you girlies have already bought some of these stylish boots haven't you? We bought ours in the mall in Jonesboro, but I saw some really cute ones the other day at Target.com. Check it out! Don't let your tootsies get all shriveled up from the rain like I have mine.

As for now........it's raining! I believe I'll put my boots on, go outside and splash around a bit!

Talk to you soon!

It only takes a sprig

We've really had some crazy weather here in Arkansas this year. Remember the ice storm.......oh mercy, who could forget. Then the spring rains, not showers, but rains. I've never seen it rain so much during the spring. It also rained quit a bit in July.

The reason I'm saying all this is because all the plants, trees and grass have been exceptionally beautiful. Everything is so lush!!! With that said........I wanted you to see my Liriope (aka monkey grass). IT'S BEAUTIFUL!!!!!

The monkey grass in our yard started with on sprig much like the picture above. When Alvin and I built our first house in 1975 I wanted to plant some monkey grass. Grandma and Poppa had plenty to spare so I brought a piece home.

When we moved to the house we live in now......seventeen years ago, I brought a sprig over. In the course of seventeen years I have divided it and divided it until now I have TONS!!!

A few days ago I was in the yard and I kept thinking something looked different. After a few days of wondering what it was, I realized it was the monkey grass. IT WAS IN FULL BLOOM!!!! Why am I soooooo excited!!!! Well........IT'S NEVER EVER BLOOMED BEFORE!!!!!

After Alvin and I talked about it, we realized this is the first time it had seen sunshine!!!! You see our backyard is completely shady, with ginormous trees. After the ice storm we lost tons of branches and then we had a tree service come in and cut some of the hanging branches that were broken. So ta da........lots of sunshine.

Anyhoo, I wanted y'all to see the monkey grass from every angle.

And mixed with the lime green sweet potato vine makes it stand out even more!

All because of one little sprig many years ago. Thanks Grandma and Poppa!

Twice in two weeks

My sister Susie and I have broken a record. You see, Susie used to live in Atlanta and we were lucky to see each other once a year. She and David now live outside of Jackson, MS and we have been together twice in within two weeks and to say we've had a blast would be an understatement!

Suz and Davy baby drove up on Friday to spend the weekend and attend my Aunt Lucy's 81st birthday party at my cousin Roger's cabin at the lake. My mom and Aunt Lucy had gone to the cabin early Friday morning and mom had no idea my sister was coming (actually, I didn't know she was coming until late Thursday night because Davy baby had to work Friday morning and they weren't sure if he was even going to be able to get off or not). Mom was sooooo surprised as was Aunt Lucy and all of our cousins when we arrived with Susie and David in tow!

I just feel so blessed to have been able to spend some quality time with my sissy lately. I LUV you sissy girl!!!!!

Oh, one last thing. Does anyone know how to make these mosaics larger?

Just a quick post

Mercy ladies......looky what I bought at Lucky's yesterday for $60 (retails for $229). Yep, a 10 piece set of Racheal Ray hard-anodized cookware. You would of have thought I had hit the jackpot! Actually, I feel like I did, well let me rephrase that, my hero feels like he did....remember I'm not a big lover of cooking, he's the big daddy of cooking!

Anyhoo, just wanted to share my lasted find!!!

Y'all have a FABULOUS rest of the day. As for me, I'm headed back outside to play with Reid. I hear Reid and Pop yelling for me to come out and play water guns!!! I'm sure I'll be the target!!!! lol lol

Catch up time

I've been such a bad blogger lately. We've been so busy, as has everyone else I'm sure, but, I promise I'll try and be better from now on. My next few blogs will probably pertain to summer fun!

But for now................

We just got back from another amazing week at Gulf Shores!!! Oh, how we would LUV to live there.......maybe some day!

By the way, I've learned how to do mosaics so from now on I will probably be using alot of them in my posts. It's just sooooo much faster to download.

Anyhoo, I LUV this first shot. They were all taken from our 9th story balcony. The first picture is of the most amazing cloud I believe I've ever seen in my life. As you can see in the second picture a thunderstorm was moving in around 6 one evening and the sky was gorgeous. The third picture is simply a beautiful day which is what we had everyday even though the Weather Channel said there was at least a 50% chance of rain each day. The last picture is of a thundershower in the distance.

Our youngest daughter Casey and her husband Josh joined us for a few days and my sister, Susie and her hubby David met us for a couple of days.
There's nothing better than spending time with family.


We went to the infamous Flora-Bama one morning and drove out to Pirates Cove for lunch. Yes, that really is a picture of Josh swinging on a pole at Flora-Bama. That boy doesn't have a lick of sense (so he fits in our family real well).

The last evening we were at the beach, we drove out to the State Park and took pictures. I thought it was really neat that our clothes color coordinated with Casey and Josh's and we didn't even plan it!

I hope everyone is enjoying their summer. Gosh, it sure has gone by fast!!

Before Lucky's and After Lucky's

Oh mercy girls......Lou I hit the Jackpot BIG time last week!!!! Lucky got a Khol's truck in last week and boy oh boy did we luck out! LOL LOL

This was my backyard a week ago last Wednesday morning........

(Double click to enlgarge)

And here it is Wednesday afternoon! Oh glory (as Pickett says), I almost peed my pants with excitement!!

The chairs were $35 each, lounger $45, cute little tile tables $10 each and the umbrella was $15!

This was looking the opposite direction last Wednesday morning.......



The same picture Wednesday afternoon.

Sooooooo many of you have emailed me about Lucky's and I always tell you, that if you have to drive from another state to get here, it's probably not worth it, because he more often than not has nothing worth driving a long distance for. But mercy me.....it happened to be a Lucky day.

Lou and I went to Khol's last Friday and they had the same exact furniture on display and for sale. For example Khol's had the chairs listed for $329.00 for two less 60%. Still a bargain!!!!

Bosco sure was enjoying the lounger.....tee hee hee!!!