Summer Travels Part 3: The End

Well, all I can say is these young whipper-snappers who think a vacation is go-go-go and spend all your money on a cruise or disney world (or something similar) have never spent a week with my sister! We got to babysit (well, I was really just along for the ride) two of the cutest little misters you will ever meet -- Thomas and Charlie. They were more fun than a barrel of monkeys -- for real. I didn't even hear Charlie (around a year old) cry until the last day we kept him. And Thomas -- he was very entertaining! He kept us laughing the whole time. We wanted to go to the IKEA store down near Cinncinatti one day and about 10 miles down the road decided to do our "local" shopping since we had the boys with us and save IKEA for after mom and dad got home. Even though they had been really good and happy we figured that might be safer. And it was -- that was the day that Thomas decided to act like a two year old -- imagine that and he will be three this month. He didn't want to listen to gramma and had to ride in the cart for a while and was not a happy camper. Any way, he got over it and we had a fun shopping trip but got home in time for naps and lunch which would not have been the case if we'd gone to IKEA.

Maddie the year old Rotweiller kept us hopping too. She wanted Toby to play every time he came outside and Toby only plays with humans so there was a lot of hopping and leaping by the pup and alot of growling and snapping by the crotchity old Cocker Spaniel. Then she ate her water bucket -- a five gallon white pail, and chewed up several plant pots and even knocked a big heavy plant pot off the bench under the tree while chasing the cat. She lives an exciting life in between her time outs on a very short chain.

We tried out a couple of new recipes -- a beef brisket recipe from the Pioneer Woman's blog -- you need to check out her recipes -- they all look really good. I made the green beans for our potluck at church today and there weren't any left to bring home. I also made Paula Deen's (no-cal) banana pudding. You just think it has cream cheese, condensed milk, and coolwhip in it but it's just your imagination. Boy was it good!!

There were four grown Neely boys at the house one evening and honestly -- you couldn't tell the difference between them and the three year olds -- they are hilarious.

Sunday afternoon, Michael and Avery came by for a suprise visit -- they were visiting friends in Dayton for the weekend. Michael and Avery and I took a ride on Uncle Lundy's new GATOR. Avery was not happy at first and then all of a sudden she saw a cat and the tears stopped and she was having a great time and I got off and she rode with her dad by herself.

I learned a new four letter word for FUN -- it's IKEA. Beth and I went and spent about four and 1/2 hours there. They have a showroom with all kinds of rooms set up and you get all kinds of organization ideas from them. then they have the wharehouse and the other area that reminds me of a Walmart kind of with aisles of things that you saw in the showroom. It was a really fun adventure.

My ride home was uneventful -- I spent the night in Nashville and Thursday morning Jen and the girls and I went to a store called Rooster Tails -- full of hand made kind of rustic tables, kitchen islands, chests and other stuff. A really neat place. We at lunch with Michael and then I came the rest of the way home. I listened to two books while I was traveling -- Philip Margolin and James Patterson. Both books were very good, keep you awake while traveling stories which was good since Toby chose to snore the entire trip.

It was great to sleep in my own bed for a change but I have to say that I didn't want to leave. I guess as I get older I appreciate the old homeplace and family more every time I visit. Okay, before I get carried away, I'll end with two funny stories about Ella (even though I wasn't there when they occured. I called Beth yesterday and I heard a child's voice say "Hello" I said hello back and the voice said -- Aunt Vail, this is Ella. We talked a minute and then as I was going to hang up, she asked for my phone number. I told her that Gramma had my number already and she said no, I want it for me so I can call you from my house. I told her okay but she would have to be sure and have permission from Mom or Dad before calling. She said "okay". So I began 6 - 6 - 2 and about that time Ella said "How do you make a 6" My other story was told to me today by my sister (gramma). Apparently their calico cat had kittens in the last few days. So sometime yesterday (I think), Ella came in saying "Grampa, Grampa, the titty-tat had five titties!! --- Don't you just love it!!!

Here are some real pictures of the new kitchen and Mike, Avery and I riding the gator.

Summer Travels Part 2

The weather in PA and Ohio has been nothing short of fabulous. I have been enjoying myself soooooo much. There is nothing like a good dose of family to make you forget about whatever needs to be forgotten :) Beth and I had a very enjoyable trip to see mother. We helped her plant some flowers, walked the pony from Grandpa's barn to her barn, watched Freida ( her year old Doberman) run back and forth across the yard like a race horse, went to see our Auntie Lois and ate on the patio overlooking the bay, took Mother to eat at Olive Garden, ate sauerkraut and pork and homemade strawberry shortcake (YUMMMMMM), went to Frankie's garden stand and bought enough plants to fill her car to overflowing and watched two movies.

We've been back at her house since after lunch on Tuesday so she can babysit Thomas and Charlie while Matt and Amanda are on a mini vacation to NYC. She is the best grandma ever (of course!!!) and Thomas and Charlie are so much fun to babysit. So far we have been to the Old Time Pottery where I got a couple of pots to put some plants in and this morning I potted some Lavendar I bought and also a geranium with some verbena. They look good. I'm thinking about painting my thumb green to see if that will help me keep the plants alive. Last night we went to "Homerama" which is like an open house at some brand new homes that are furnished and everything. You can get lots of ideas for your house or your dream home. There were four houses -- the smallest was 5800 sq. feet. Ben and John and Allen went with us -- (none of their wives are in town.) We had a lot of fun. Even Charlie and Thomas enjoyed the trip. The boys folks will be back after lunch tomorrow and then it will be just Beth and I since Lundy is in Hungary til Wed. We are going to make a trip to the IKEA store on Monday. I passed it on the way up here. It is huge and Beth says it is full of all kinds of neat stuff. I'm planning on leaving here Wed. morning, spending that night in Nashville and going home on Thursday. I was going to leave earlier and spend a couple of days in Nashville but since Lundy is gone and I'll be coming back to Nashville for several days when Brian gets home, I'll be there for several days anyway, I selfishly decided to spend more time with my big sis.

Enjoy the pictures.



Here are Mother and Auntie Lois







I couldn't resist taking a picture of my old homestead bedroom. I still love that wall paper -- although I don't want it in my house -- it wouldn't have the same effect :)






Mother on our movie night -- even Frieda couldn't keep her awake during the movie :))






Happy Charlie is always smiling!








Thomas -- showing us his eybrow trick. He is keeping us all in stitches.







The fierce rotweiller guard dog Maddie staying behind the high barbwire fence --- it is disguised to look like cardboard.






Here are two sneakpeaks of Beth's new kitchen .



****

**** Just

Kidding :)

Summer Travels Part One

What fun I had in Longview! Therre were games of Hi Ho Cheerio, books to read, walks to go on, trips to the boardwalk (in Shreveport) and to the fabric store (sorry, I missed my fab-anon meeting) and lots of hugs and I love you's in between.

Billy and Stacey have a neat garden with peas, tomatoes, bell peppers, carrots, squash and things I know I've left out. Strawberries -- I had a couple and they were delish! I also found out you can eat nastursiums (it's a flower). The leaves and blossoms are very tasty in salad. I tried a leaf -- it's spicy like pepper. I didn't try one of the blossoms.

Those kids are go - go- go all the time. I applaud Stacey and Billy too for being able to keep up with them :)

Sunday afternoon Billy aired up the pool for the kids. Once the pool had enough water we let the kids get in. Here they are in the pool.

There must have been something in the water though because Jack was drinking the water and

the next thing I knew .....

TOTALLY UNMOTIVATED& MY HYDRANGEA IS BLOOMING

Ever since I got out of school I've done very little other than lay around and read blogs and watch HGTV. I just can't seem to get in the mood to do anything. I mean I am doing things -- fixing meals -- going to church -- doing the church bulletin but I haven't picked up my sewing or even the pair of socks I started working on. What's wrong with me? It's hay making time. I need to get with it.

We had a major storm this afternoon -- all wind and no rain to speak of -- didn't even get the ground totally wet but the sky was sure dark and the wind was REALLY REALLY blowing. Anyway -- the picture on the right shows a limb on my river birch just hanging down. I guess I'll have to get one of my nice neighbors to finish breaking it off. I had two other branches break off of another tree. They were about 2" in diameter and 6' long. I put them out on the street after church tonight along with a big armful of much smaller branches that blew out of the trees.

While I was at it I took a picture of my one lone hydrangea -- it's starting to bloom. The flowers are really pretty. I wouldn't mind having more bushes. Toby was out there watching me "sort of work" so I got a picture of him too. He is enjoying his new yard but I think he sometimes wishes it was a little bigger.

It did cool off some after the wind storm. If it stays cooler, I'm going to do a little work around the patio tomorrow. And, I have about 1-2 hours of work left on a dress I started last year and I'm going to do my best to finish it before I head out to TX on Wed. I'm also going to go by VBS tomorrow and Tues in case they need an extra set of hands.

I'll be leaving Wed morning around 7 heading to Jackson for my 10:00 meeting with the retirement people and then I'll be off to Longview. From looking at the map, I will be close to Interstate 20 when I get to the PERS building so maybe I won't get lost trying to find my way out.