Pioneer Woman Contest....

Check out this contest. You don't have to post it to your blog to win, but I thought I'd share as there's just a few hours left and I happened upon it. Good Luck!

Oregon Trip.... Day 1 & 2

Wow we just spent a wonderful week in Southern Oregon. The Medford area to be exact. We left steaming hot Bakersfield on Tuesday afternoon for a race over the weekend in the cool air of Oregon thinking we would make a mini vacation out of our trip.

We packed the Motor Home with food and goodies for the trip, filled the race jugs with pricey racing fuel, threw in some toys and food for Turbo and hit the road around 1:30 pm. Our first stop was the groomers a few blocks from the house where we picked up a freshly groomed Turbo who was feeling frisky and excited with his new haircut and the fact that he was going bye-bye in the rolling house.

After driving through some desolute looking "Congress created Dust Bowl" areas that used to be beautiful farm land in the Northern Part of California we disscussed how sad it was that so many farmers and farm workers were being put out of work because of some stupid fish. Here's a little link where you can see the full story.

Around 9PM we decided we should sleep so we settled in for the night at a little RV park in Willows that could handle 70 feet of rig. At 9:30 we were munching on on a couple of TV Dinners and then crawled into bed for some exciting Tuesday night Television. Keep in mind that since we would not have plug in power (Hookups)for the balance of our vacation, falling asleep with the TV set to snooze was kind of exciting as it wouldn't happen again for awhile. The same hold true for the extended "Non Sailor Shower" the following morning.

Around 8AM we woke up and showered. After buckling everything down from out night in the park we hit the road again eating breakfast as we cruised the I-5 at a little over 60 MPH. Yes we were breaking the law, but not by much. As we climbed in altitude and got closer to Oregon we passed some beautiful landscape. Of course I didn't pull the camera out as there was nowhere to stop and I hate through the window screen shots.

When we were just outside of Oregon Honey decided we should rent a car so we could tool around a bit. I made a few calls and found that we were out of luck due to lack of planning. Oh well, the cars were overpriced anyway. We would just plow down the road in our 70 feet of glory!

Our first Oregon stop was Hell Gate Jet Boat Excursion. We pulled through their crowded parking lot onto the quiet residential street behind them. The generator and big air conditioner were started and we enjoyed sandwiches before taking a brief nap. Our reservation was for 4:15 and would be a 4 hour drip down and back up the Rogue River.

What a blast!!!! Our tour guide Craig took us down the river doing several 360 degree turns as well as some random body soaking stops just for fun. We saw beautiful Bald Eagles, Starlings and lots of beautiful homes and nature. We were then treated to a yummy meal at their resturant, The OK Corral, before heading back up the river for even more wet fun. Because of the wetness of the ride, we were warned not to bring our good camera. We regretted having to leave it behind as our seats weren't as wet as others, but we had no idea of where we would sit.

We finished around 8:45 and loaded back into the RV for our short 40 mintue trip to the race track. Of course by the time we got in the area it was after 9 PM and quite dark. Race tracks are generally in obscure out of the way places, so to say there was no lighting in the area would be an understatement. It was incredibly dark. We followed the directions and saw no sign of the track. We called our friends who informed us that they had passed it in the middle of the day and that we needed to turn around. Have you EVER tried to turn around a Motor Home pulling a car trailer on a lane and a half of country road with water gulleys on either side? It's not a smart thing to do so we just followed the road until we saw a church with a decent sized parking lot.

The church parking lot was a nice size but the drive way wasn't and there was not room to "Go wide" as you would normally do turning into a parking lot. Yeah, it wasn't pretty. Front half of the rig half on the lawn of the church, half on the driveway. Back half of the rig teatering on the edge of previously mentioned water gulley. Moving forward was not an option. Moving backwards wasn't working so well either. Traffic of course appeared out of nowhere and began stacking up behind the trailer.

After walking around the trailer a few times we decided to just back all the way up until the back tires were nearly in the gulley on the other side of the street and then turn so that the Motor Home was out of the Parking Lot and back on the road. I stood out in the middle of the road hoping the car headed in my direction would see me and not squish me into the side of the trailer and directed Honey as to when to stop.

We got the rig back on the road and I ran to jump into my seat. We continued down the road until we hit the highway. We had made a complete square. We started again, and this time when we turned off the highway and onto the racetrack road we ignored our GPS and went off the advice of others and found the unlit driveway of our destination.

9:30 pm found us setting up camp, nibbling on some leftovers and crawling in to bed after a long morning driving and a long evening in the sun.

Sad News About Popcorn....

So Dear Husband bought us a new office computer right around New Years. We bought it because our Accountant told us to "Spend Money" and because we bought our refurbished one in 2001. Yes it was ancient and had some major issues and the Accountants comments were just enough to get DH motivated.

Anyway, after getting the computer set up I noticed that my emails were coming in at random times that made no sense to me. The date was also wrong. What the heck?

One day as I sat playing games instead of working I glanced down at the time. OMG I had somehow been sitting there for 2 hours and 10 minutes?! No Way!!!

Once I calmed down and went into the kitchen and looked at a "real clock" I came back in the office and realized it had only been 10 minutes. I mean yeah, I know, time flies when you're having fun but I wasn't having THAT much fun!

The clock is obviously wrong so I call time. Now I know I'm "Old" but I'm sure most of you reading this, atleast if you grew up in or near California know that you can dial POP-CORN (767-2676) and hear the nice lady tell you that "At the sound of the tone the time will be 8:09 and 10 seconds".

I punched in the digits and the sound I heard was NOT the sweet lady I have heard for nearly 40 years but an ugly tone and the evil woman at the other end saying "We're sorry, your call can not be completed as dialed. Please check the number and dial again." Certainly I had dialed wrong. I dialed again. Oh No!!! The number is no longer working? How can that be?

I googled Pop-Corn Time Check and sure enough, I found this little article buried among happy stories of Jolly Time Popcorn.

I was saddened by the fact that something from my childhood had just passed by the way side and I hadn't even noticed for over a year. I found my cell phone and checked the time and then realized that the time zone on our computer was set wrong. I changed the clock on the computer.

Later that night I told my DH that an old friend had passed. I don't think he was quite as sad as I was.

My First Contest....

Oh no... don't be confused. I'm not having a contest. I'm entering one. Yes it ends tonight at midnight, but hey, a contest is a contest right?! Follow this link to the contest. You too could be a winner!

We Are So Proud!

Today our Dear Son In Love graduated "With Honors" from the Sheriff Academy. He was #1 overall in the class!

It's been a long process and he has worked so hard and worried so much. Late nights of coming home dog tired to the job of washing and pressing his uniforms for the next brutal day are over. Being yelled at, working out like mad, being beat up as he practiced arrests and shooting a million rounds a week are over.

His little family has been very patient (most of the time)with his total mental and physical exhaustion and his lack of desire to go and do things in the evening. We're so glad that he was able to make it through the entire academy and come out not only alive but kicking and on top.

We are SO Proud of you Popeye!

After the graduation there was a nice quiet gathering of close friends and family at his sister's house. About 40 people enjoyed the great food and better company. Our poor Dear Grandson was so good through the long ceremony and the party even though he was sick and exhausted. Our dear daughter was beaming and giddy all day. She loves him so much and is thrilled that he's ready for the next part of his career.

Hu-Rah for our boy! May you change the lives of those you come in contact with, just as you've changed our lives since you became a part of our family. We love you!

We've Decided We Like To Date

As you may or may not know, Dear Husband has been working out of town constantly since mid November. We don't see much of each other, which has been the norm for the past 4+ years but not quite to this extent.

When Honey is gone I crawl into bed pretty early and watch tv while I surf the net, stalk blogs and play solitaire. Yes I could use my time more constructively, and do at times, but most times it me, the bed, the bubby, the computer and the tv. Anyway, early last week I saw that the new Clint Eastwood movie was coming out on Friday December 9. Personally, I think ol' Clint is hot. Yes, I know, he's an old guy, but he is SO Sexy!

Because I HAD been doing constructive things a few days prior to seeing this movie advertisement I knew that we had some gift cards to some yummy yummy resturants in the junk drawer. We're bad about going out and forgetting our gift cards or just not planning. So I went through the drawer and found a $50 card to this place. We had made one attempt in the year that we'd had the card to dine here but this is one place that you MUST have a reservation and get it several days in advance. Dear Husband had been here but I never had, so I was excited.

I then called Dear Husband and asked him if he would like to go on a date with me the following Saturday night. He was thrilled at the idea of dinner and a movie and encouraged me to set the stage for a romantic evening!

On Thursday before our date I looked up movie times, made dinner reservations for an hour or so before, pulled out some gift certificates for movies that I had from who knows when and drove to the theater and bought the tickets. I was going to be totally organized for this date.

Dear Honey was coming home on Friday night, but I didn't want him to be too tired etc for our date. Saturday morning started out rough, as it sometimes does when poor Dear Husband comes home to a lot of un-finished projects. Yes, although I had gotten the house mostly back in order, there were areas I had ignored. Dear Husband was nice about it but I could tell he was annoyed. I have to admit that it did get him to go through some "Stuff" that he needed to go through and resulted in a very full outside trash bin. Yippee!

Anyway, early in the day my BFF called and invited us to her house for a birthday bash. I told her we'd come for a while but that we had a date. Cool. Later, while I worked in the office, honey enjoyed a nap. I woke him with about 20 minutes to spare before we needed to be at my BFF house for a short visit before leaving for our date. He dozed a little longer, changed into nicer clothes and we were out the door.

Once at BFF's house we enjoyed a VERY rousing game of dice. The game calls for chips but we play with one dollar bills. We each had to buy in 3 times and the pot (center) was up to $108 to the winner. The birthday girl won the pot and we had to run out the door and drive a little quicker then we should have in order to make our reservation. It was a blast though and we almost wished we didn't already have plans.

Dinner was wonderful. We sat next to each other and talked about things other then work and kids, which was nice for a change. We enjoyed watching the people in the resturant and chuckled at the youngsters who were all dressed up for prom/winter formal. We enjoyed ourselves, got cute little chinese to go boxes for our food and wandered to our car pleasantly full without being stuffed.

As we arrived at the theater parking lot it was really full, but we had our tickets so we sat in the car (at my urging) and enjoyed the heated seats for a few more minutes. We continuted to talk until the seats cooled down a bit. We got halfway to the front doors when I remembered the tickets. In my wallet. In the glove box. Waaaaay out in the parking lot. No worries. We'll just be warmed up when we finally get in to the movie.

We waltzed past the long lines that went on forever. WOW, we ususally come on Sunday afternoons to movies. We're not used to crowds like this. We were so smart for getting our tickets ahead of time! Once inside we bypassed the snack bar, hit the restrooms and entered theater 7. We stood at the bottom of the top seats and our jaws dropped. We were in plenty of time for the movie and yet there were no seats. What!? We looked again hoping that we wouldn't have to sit in one of the two front rows at the base of the screen that were remaining. Oh pooh. WHY did we sit and linger over dinner and over the nice heated seats in the car? Wait! There are 2 seats. We climb to the top of the stadium and sure enough the seats are NOT saved. Sure they're the only two seats next to the wall but they're together and not at the base of the screen. Woo Hoo! Wait. There is a BAR across the front of them right at eye level? What the heck!?! Oh well. No worries.

This movie was awesome. Seriously. Even if we had to look "through" a bar, it was worth it. Yes there was cussing in it so I wouldn't recommend it for children, but OMG it was a wonderful movie. We laughed, we teared up, we were nervous and in the end, as the lights came up, we along with a good majority of the audience applauded. There were no high speed chase scenes, really no crazy fight scenes, no sex scenes, only a well written touch your heart amazing piece of art.

My Dear Husband and I left the theater holding hands and discussing how much we enjoyed the movie, how we wish more movies left you feeling this way. We drove home having a wonderful conversation about anything, everything and nothing. We visited while we got ready for bed, crawled under the covers, curled up and both fell asleep. Yes we had other expectations, but admittedly it was a perfect ending to a wonderful day.

Mission Accomplished....Kinda

The living room is put back together. The carpet is as clean as its going to get and the big rug is on the back porch. I DON'T think it will be coming back in unless I can shampoo the lovely Bubby gift out of it. I feel like we have too much furniture in there, but I'm not willing to give up the recliners and where would I really put a sofa or love seat anywhere else in the house?

The office has been shampooed and so has the Master Bedroom. I need to move a few things back in to place and tidy up but the carpets are shampooed and vacuumed and look clean.

The floors are still uncleaned and the grout is unsealed. I have high hopes of Dear Husband helping me this weekend by operating the machine while I scrub the grout but I'm not going to push the issue. If it doesn't happen there is always next week or the next week. Babysteps.

I had really been wanting to take my table and buffet from the kitchen and put it into the dining room. I tried it and the room looked really good. Dear Daughter came up with some great decorating ideas to add to the room. I was SO EXCITED!!! Of course in order to keep it this way I had to put the dining room stuff into the kitchen. No problem right?! I mean it was in the kitchen when we first moved in here so we'll just move it back in.

I dragged the dining room furniture, which was really the "Old" kitchen furniture into the kitchen. Hmmm, the table doesn't look right horizonally against the wall. I moved it vertically against the wall. Hmmmm, maybe it was here at an angle? Hmmm. How in the heck did we EVER have this HUGE table in the kitchen nook let alone all 4 chairs?! There is NO WAY it's going to fit. Phooey!

I'm so sad. I really wanted to switch everything around. I call Honey. He actually laughed at me! He tells me he knew it wouldn't work. The table was always too big which is WHY we got a new one in the first place. Oh. I guess I forgot. Well I was hoping my memories were wrong anyway. Pooh.

So, tomorrow I'll put the house back together with all the furniture where it fits, even if I don't think it belongs there, so Dear Husband and Dear Son can relax when they come home for the weekend. Pooh!

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year to all! I've spent the day doing something I rarely do. Yep, I slept in, yammered on the phone with my step mom and now I'm laying in bed watching the replay of the parade on the Travel Channel.

I'll get up soon enough but for now, I'm enjoying the quietness of the "staying in bed til noon". There's plenty of time to do the things I need/want to do, which still includes shampooing the rest of the carpet, scrubbing the floors and packing for my weekend away to see Dear Husband. I figure I have until Friday night to make the house peaceful and I'm going to take advantage of the time instead of pushing myself so hard that I can't enjoy the process.

May your News Year Day be peaceful and calm. And may your New Year be wonderful and give you plenty to be thankful for.