Crazy Puppy Lady

Rain, rain....Go Away!!!!

2009-05-28T15:57:00.000-07:00

After a horrible experience with the landscaper from hell, it's finally done. I still have some things I have to change, but this will get us by until I figure it out. At least we have real grass now!!

Sprinkler System

Well after a weeks delay, they are finally getting started on the sprinkler system. Looks like a mess to me. Here's hoping the rain stays away so they can finish up....Stay tuned!!!

The Makeover continues...

2009-05-15T17:29:00.000-07:00

Out with the old, in with the new.

You saw the yard in the last post, here's what's going on today. It's time for a makeover!! This grass totally sucked, it was ugly grass. So, it's gone!
Here's how things are going.

It looked like they were bailing hay out there.
Loading up debris one load at a time.

All nice and clean, ready for sprinklers & sod.

Uh oh...nothing like a nice big storm to make a mess.

Yuk!

Stayed tuned for the finish project, pictures when we return next month.

Before & After

2009-05-10T13:52:00.000-07:00

Here is an update on the Florida houses paint job. While we were up in IL, we had some repairs done on the house, but most importantly, we had it painted. While I didnt want a lot of color on the house, I did want enough to make the white trim paint pop a little more. I picked out a soft green before we left and went with that. It was really scary wondering what it was going to look like, even though it was a light shade and pretty harmless. Well I think it turned out great. It's a nice soft green, much better than the almost white tan shade that it use to be. Click on the pics to enlarge.

Now to start working on the yard. The dogs pick up everything on their fur in the backyard, so I hope to get some flowerbeds done and some sod as soon as we get a sprinkler system.

Before

After

Aunt Terry goes to college!!!!

2009-04-21T17:53:00.001-07:00

Ok, not really, but it sounded funny! LOL This was a spare of the moment trip, I just thought Anna might like some company and it had been a while since we've seen each other. Before we knew it, I was in the air and on my way to New Mexico to visit her at college. I must be getting use to flying cause it didnt really bother me that much. Anyway, here are a few shots from this trip.

Here was our view from our room, a day shot and a night shot. We actually saw hot air balloons every morning, that was very cool.

Our first night we ate at a little dive down the street called Lindy's. It was just a cute old diner, with some sweet boys running things. They had some cool neon's on the walls too.

And please, let's not forget about the desert case! We split a piece of the chocolate cake with the cherry's on top! OMG....

The next night we went to the movie "17 Again" and afterwards we ate at a darling cafe around the corner, which reminded both Anna and I of a place we ate at in Rockford with Emily, the day they moved away. :(
Dont worry, it's a virgin drink!
Sunday was my last full day and we went to Old Town to see the sites. This is an awesome old Catholic Church, it's really lovely inside, I would have liked to take some pictures but didnt know if it was acceptable, so I didnt. Anna was dying to see a Nun...lol

Anna and her friend, Bailey

Too bad they cant have some fun!

There are so many cute little areas in Old Town.

Dont ask me why, but I love this door.

This was a darling little side street.

Love, love, love this old truck....where'd that monkey come from!?!?!?

And one last cute shot of the girls.

This concludes this years trip to Albuquerque!

DO NOT mess with this Grandma!

2009-04-11T14:02:00.000-07:00

Ahhh, Spring is in the air....the flowers are starting to come up, the trees are ready to open their leaves, the birds are flying back home and it's time to take out the M16!!! Wooooo dog! Seriously, we just decided to do a little 'plinking' today. John had some cool targets that highlight where you hit. As you can see, I did pretty darn good! The bigger holes are from a cute little pistol called an LC, I hated it. Too long and hard of a tigger pull, it made my hand shake. But the small holes are from the Ranch Rifle, the one in the dead center was my first shot....for real!!! After the first shot i just lit into it with rapid fire and they all stayed within the silhouette, which i happen to think is pretty darn cool. I havent shot for ages, but it was so much fun, we're going back out tomorrow and then I will get out the 9mm Glock. Fun fun fun! Take a look at my poor little critter below. Let me tell you what's going to happen to the crazed robin that is making a mess of our back window and wont go away!!!!

Enter Crazy Sock Monkey Lady....

2009-03-08T15:57:00.001-07:00

I know, I know what you're thinking....I thought she was the Crazy Puppy Lady. This is true, I am, but for this weekend, I was the Crazy Sock Monkey Lady. Emily and I went to Rockford's Midway Village Museum. It was the annual Sock Monkey Festival. I dont think I have ever seen so many sock monkeys in one place!! There had to be over 500 of them....easily!

Here is the entrance to the museum, and a giant sock monkey to welcome us.

This was the main room, there were tables set up to embellish your purchased sock monkeys and there were vendors around the wall areas of the room. The kids were all having a great time making clothes, putting on their faces and completing their monkeys. There was another room where people were making monkeys from scratch. There were tons of people that brought their monkeys from home, just about everything imagineable....Even a Gangsta monkey!
There were vintage monkeys, this guy has over 2,000 monkeys in his collection.

Teensie little monkeys

Gigantic Monkeys....see Emily to the left for sizing.

There was even a monkey hospital for your ailing monkeys

And your run of the mill Cheap Trick Monkey! These big statues are located around Rockford

I love this group, Notice Spock in the blue.
Tyrone made a lot of new friends, everyone that seen him loved him. He had his pic taken many times that day. Got a few double takes at him too.
They had items to buy, I got Emily this cute purse she really wanted. They had a ton of really cute ones there.

Emily & Tyrone by one of the Rockford Peaches displays

Here is a display full of Wizard of Oz sock monkey characters and other misc sock monkeys ...How cute is that?
All in all a fun weekend. Thanks for stopping by...

Lights, Camera....Action!

2009-02-08T12:40:00.000-08:00

You've all seen the photos of the little house in FL, I thought I'd do a short walk through video of it. We've done some painting, hung some junk on the walls, so I thought it was decent enough now to show you. I still have curtains to make and things to hang on more walls, but it's ok. Just as a refresher, here's a front and back view of it. I'm going to have it painted and I cant wait, it's a little too dull for my liking. I'm thinking a light seafoam green. And I've ripped out some, make that most of the landscaping to redo it sometime.

Click HERE to see the video.

Functional and fabulous!

2009-01-18T08:15:00.000-08:00

Every now and then I run across something that is just so cool, i have to share it. I was looking online for one of the old style ornament boxes that i have used for years. Although they worked out pretty good, I now see how flimsy the inside supports really are. Here is my new ornament box, more a little dresser if you will. I ordered one to see if I'd like it and if it's worth the money, $39.00.....and yes, it is. I have ordered a second one to finish up the last two trees. So i wanted to show all my friends so you can have one, or two yourselves!!! I got it at www.ornamentbox.com

Here it is, all loaded...cute, huh?

And here's an open, loaded drawer. So nice not to have to individually wrap them up. I like being able to see them and be able to group the themed ones together. You can adjust the dividers to make the area bigger for the larger/long ornaments.

Here's another "little" item. It's a little 10" latop. John found this somewhere online, he thought it would be perfect to use while we're traveling. We will use it to look up weather, road conditions and searching for hotels. It even has a cam and a card reader slot. This one will be good to haul on plane trips, it's even small enough to fit into my purse, believe it or not. All this for just under $400!!!!

That's all I've got for now....... :)

Heading south for the winter!

2009-01-04T16:07:00.001-08:00

Christmas is over, we are outta here!

From the blizzards of the midwest...

To the salty seas of Florida.
We decided to treat Emily to a trip to Florida for a 16th birthday present. Here are a few shots from that trip. The weather was nice enough to boat a few days and do some site seeing.

Here is Emily down at the Sponge Dock area.

Emily on the boat.

We're back at the private beach at sunset, collecting a little crap along the way. These are lobster trap floats, they must just get broken from the traps and wash up on the shore. I have two, a new collection!

I think this is a horse shoe crab. Not sure if it was dead or alive...creepy.
Me & Em
Fantastic sunsets here. That is Anclote Island in the distance. We hope to go there soon.

Here we are at the Crab Shack for lunch.

Now, you knew you'd see them! They did great till the pelicans showed up.

This is one of the many stilt houses or fish camps you see along the gulf in our area. As you see they are still being used, the first stilt house was built in 1902. There is a variety of interesting articles on the houses, go to this link and read them. Stilt houses It's funny because there are pictures in the article with women in vintage swimwear and they are standing outside the houses with the water only up to their knees. These houses are out in the gulf a ways so it's funny to see it so shallow. You can see another house on the far left of this one. They are stretched up and down the coast.

Here's another house, you can see it's close to the edge of a small island. People were hanging out on the island. I thought it was a little far to kayak to, but I'm lazy.Here's the boat that hauls people to the casino boat out in the gulf.
This is out in the Gulf, i liked how the reflection of the sun looked like stars. Click on it to enlarge it, they show up better.

Ok, that's all I've got for now!!! Thanks for visiting.

Das Boot

2008-11-24T15:51:00.000-08:00

Boyz and their toyz! The boat finally arrives in town, all nicely wrapped up. Looks sorta funny like this, makes it look huge. Once it got all unwrapped, they started putting in the electronics. GPS, radar and sonar are all installed, so we should never get lost, or caught in a storm or caught on the rocks!!! We'll just stick with that thought! After a short sea trial, actually done on a large lake, it was time to transport to the river inlet to head up the intercoastal waterway. John & Jovan were dropped off and headed up the river towards our new place in New Port Richey. Here are a few shots from the day.

John and Jovan ready for water!

In they go...

I barely make it back for their arrival.

A quick trip back out in the gulf. It's surprising how big those waves really are. After flipping my camera onto my foot, I end up on my ass on the floor of the boat!!

This was the last shot I took from the front of the boat, right before I hit the deck!
Thanks for the warning, Jovan!
The first docking.
The last hurdle, putting it on the boat lift. A little scary the first time.
A funny looking hull on this thing. Here's to a smooth ride!
Stay tuned for the adventure...

On The Campaign Trail in Polk City, FL.

2008-11-01T11:30:00.000-07:00

Get out there and VOTE!!!

No, you havent come to Kerri's blog by accident, it's really mine! Normally, I am so far away from politics, but this year somehow I sorta got sucked into it. I actually was bummed about all the candidates, until Sarah came on the scene. I like her no nonsense point of view, the way she says it like it is. She isnt your everyday politician, maybe that is the appeal for me. We had just gotten back to Florida when we recieved an email saying she was going to be in Polk City....whooda thunk it! So I got online, printed off my ticket and I was ready to go. Normally, I would stay as far away from this stuff as I could, but there was something historical about it, and I had to go. Our neighbors, Jaime and Van were also going, so John dropped us off at the gait (great plan) and we fought the crowds. We actually got a pretty good spot considering all the people there. Okay, so I'm pushy, whatever works ya know! Here are a few shots from the opening ceremonies to some of the locals with their own signs. If you get the chance to go to a rally, do it! No matter who you vote for, it's a great experience.

Me & Jaime waiting for Sarah

Opening ceremonies

Sarah Palin & The First Dude, Todd

You Betcha!

A few local signs

This was a cute tshirt, there were a few people with these on.

These two little ones, Tyler & Katie are an example who they are fighting for, they will be cleaning up the mess that Barack Obama could be making for America.

Sarah

First Dude

And a fond farewell to Polk City

Oh yeah, she had great shoes on too! LOL
And a little comedy relief!!

Bling is a girls best friend...

2008-10-17T12:53:00.000-07:00

Ok, maybe that was diamonds, but for this girl it's the BLING! Here I am back at Walt Disney World at the "Race for the Taste 10k." My friend, Kelley and her family came down from NY to run/walk it with me. It was nice to have the company. This was Kelley's first race and she did awesome. I was pooped! Here are some shots from the day. Hard to look cute when you're sweatin like a pig.

Here I am before the race (looking fresh) with TJ and Maggie. Note the darkness.

Kelly & I making our way through The Studios

We made it past the ball, almost done! This girl runs with her eyes closed, that would be an accident waiting to happen for me!!!! The force must be with her.
Yay, the finish line! On to the free food please!

Old Farts Rock!!!! BLING!!!!
Da' BLING!!!

Me & My Gang!
GROUP SHOT... Me, Kelley, Tom, Maggie, Katie & TJ

The Cheerleaders!

My Birthday Girl

2008-10-15T15:41:00.000-07:00

Oct 15th

Wow, where does the time go? 38 years ago today @5:33pm, I had Kerri. She's grown a little since then! lol Here she is today with her birthday quilt. She's such a Bears fan, what else would I make for her?!?!?! Now she has kids of her own, and they are growing up quickly, wait till they are her age! oy!

Anyway, Happy Birthday Kerri...Mom loves ya.

Opps, We've done it again!!

2008-09-16T19:18:00.001-07:00

We have to stop shopping like this! We bought a new house in Florida. We decided we were getting a little bored in Polk City, so we went on the hunt for a place on the gulf. We found a cute little place and thought it would be perfect. Only about two canals from the gulf. And since we were that close to water, well....we decided to buy a boat to put at that nice dock we all of a sudden have! Here's a few pics of the new house and the boat. Hopefully our friends will want to come visit and have a ride in the gulf on John's new boat. Better hurry before a hurricane gets us!

The house.

The cute little kitchen. Seriously, what more do I need?

A little family room area. I bought this furniture from the owner I thought it went so well in there. I bought the kitchen table too.

The dock area.

The canal, the route to the gulf

See, I told you the gulf was close! Cool huh?

Save the best till last....John's new 25' Catamaran.

Just a litte dose of Poison!

2008-08-01T19:56:00.001-07:00

The things I do to be a cool Grandma! For some reason Emily was dying to see the Poison concert....I didnt realize she even knew who they were. Well, not being able to turn her down, we went for it. She found the tickets online, and they were really good seats, good in the sense if you wanted to go deaf, they were good seats! I have never seen such a huge bank of speakers in my life....up close! I know there's nothing worse than aging rock bands, but how can you pass up Bret Michaels...he's still got it. They put on a good show, and rocked the night away. The drummer, Rikki Rocket was awesome. And C.C. DeVille the guitarist, was fantastic. The nicest thing was, you could actually understand what they were singing!!! The opening act, Sebastian Bach, couldnt understand a thing he was screaming!!! LOL But it was all fun, and here are a few shots from the night. With a camera smuggled in inside Emily's bra!!!! BTW, very interesting people watching that night....omg.

Emily and Grandma Terry

Bret Michaels

C.C. & Bret

Rikki Rocket

Kamp Keeneland

2008-07-02T17:54:00.001-07:00

Well it was a big week at Kamp Keeneland. My niece Anna, nephews Jake & Hunter were here from Albq, NM and of course that meant that Emily and Mitch were here too. Also throw in a few girlfriends of the girls. I think everyone had a good time, I know Emily & Anna did. We swam a bit, when the weather cooperated, did movies...Strange Brew was watched 4 times by the girls, they are now obsessed with it! Went to the park, ate at subway, got ice cream in town, did lots of Wii, shopped and just hung out. Here are a few shots from the week.

Down in Durand at the park.
Mitch, Jake, Anna, Hunter & Emily.

Anna & Emily

Mitch & Jake

Back at the farm...
Pool time, Hunter and Jake

Anna & Hunter, having some crack problems!

Hunter got pretty brave on the diving board.

Emily and Anna did a night swim.
They love the underwater shots.Here we went to dinner at Fibs, these two love to cheese for the camera.
I think Mitchel has had enough!!!!

Of course we always have a bonfire.

Emily using a little flair when roasting her marshmallows.

New reciepe for Smores, exchange the chocolate bar for a brownie! Yum!
And finally, the graduate. Best of Luck to you Anna, Good luck at UNM.

This was our last day together, we met with my sister, Kathy down at the park.One more group shot, them acting wacky.

Beach Bums

2008-06-15T18:49:00.001-07:00

Well these pics are in no particular order since I cant figure out Mac's way of moving them around yet! So.....here we go. We didn't do parks this trip, we just hung out, mostly checking out the beaches and snooping around the area. I love Tampa and Clearwater area.

Wholly crap, there is a boat following us down the road!

I love the beach, it makes me smile. Even John has a slight smurk!

How funny where those poles landed above Emily's head! LOL And a bird on each one to boot. Note pirate ship in background. Arrrgh! As soon as I figure out how, i will replace this pic with the one I fixed in photo shop, getting rid of her horns and the big orange ball.

Yay, I did it!!

This is such a cool bridge, I think it's the Sunshine Bridge or

something in St. Pete

Mitch helping me try out the under water capabilities of my camera.

And Sew It Goes...

2008-05-31T07:51:00.000-07:00

As far back as I can remember, I have sewn. Probably starting off in grade school, going to my FHA meetings at Opal Bennets house. My first project, a cotton elastic waist skirt. White with black polkadots...I can still picture it. Makes me smile to think about it. Sewing has always been a constant in my life, no matter what else was going on around me. I made my daughter's clothes until till she hit Jr High, of course then it would have been totally embarrassing to wear home made clothes!!! I'm not sure what it is about sewing that I like, I just do. Making clothes, quilts or just goofy crafts, I love it. When I'm sitting there sewing on my fancy computerized machines, I think about my great Grandmother and how her head would spin if she could see the new things to make what was their chore, oh so easy. The tools, the gadgets and the fantastic fabrics they have now. No more feedsack dresses, although those fabrics cost more than new ones now! It all just makes me smile.

Here is my terrific sewing studio. I heart it! I could have cleaned it up better for the photo, but this is the normal state of things....when you're busy, who has time for cleaning. It's a terrific space and thanks to John for letting me redo the whole basement just so i could move to a bigger space. It is greatly loved and used.

Ahhh, the toys!!! This is my computerized Brother Disney Embroidery Machine. It's way smarter than me!!! But i have fun with it anyway.

OK, it's bragging time. My first quilt I ever made was a Red, White & Blue quilt. I made it to fit on the end of our porch for a 4th of July party, thought it would look cool....it did. After that I decided to enter it into the Winnebago County Fair...wholly cow, I not only got first place, I also got Best of Show. Not that there is a lot of competition there, but it was still special to me since it was my first real quilt. It holds a special place in my heart. Here is the BOS ribbon. cool huh?

The quilt is pictured below.

Here are other ribbons from various quilts at the fair.

These are my quirky thimbles and pin cushions. What started out as a "nice" thimbles only collection, got carried away with goofy ones our service guys would bring back for me. So, if you can't beat em', join em'. Now I have thimbles from all over the world, they are all special to me. I also have some in the Motor Home from our travels across the states.

Is there a Chicago Bears fan around here?!?! I thought so! These are things I made for Kerri, and anyone that knows her knows what a true blue fan she is. The first shot is her wallhanging I made for her office. It's enough to make the men fans jealous and was great fun to make.

This is Lucinda Dorinda! She's Kerri's cabbage patch doll from High School, all the girls use to haul them around with them when they were doing flag competitions. At that time she had a Hononegah flag uniform on, but has moved on to the Bears. She's totally cute.

And this is Kerri's newest quilt, hopefully to be done by her birthday in Oct to keep her warm through all the games.

This is one of my favorite wall quilts. It's just cute.

And there is nothing better than passing on the tradition to the little ones. Here's Emily with one of her projects for the school fair. BTW, the tradition seems to skip a generation....odd huh? lol

Walk for Autism

2008-05-18T16:15:00.001-07:00

This is who it's all about....Mitchel. Mitch is my 12 year old grandson, he has high functioning autism. Kerri, Emily, Jo and I all walked a 5k today for the awareness and to raise money for the cure and treatment of Autism. We dont know if we'll see anything in our lifetime, but there is always hope. Here's a few shots from the day....starting off with Mitch and I.

Lots of people for the cause, i heard it was over 39,500.

heading into Soldier Field

Kerri, Scott, Emily and Mitch
Terry, Jo & Kerri
Well, ya never know who you will see.....
Kerri is so totally thrilled to literally be on Soldier Field.
And who says you cant have a little fun while walking!This is Tj, the traveling sock monkey

On the road again......

2008-05-17T11:20:00.000-07:00

Well, here I am again, on another trip!!! This is the third and final stop on my spring tour!!! Albequerque, NM. Hope I spelled that right, but probably didnt. My niece, Anna, had gotten bumped up a year in high school, and this trip was for her graduation. OMG, i cant believe one of the kids is out of high school....just freaky! Anyway, it was a fast and furious trip, but we had a great time. Anna stayed at the hotel with me the whole time, I always enjoy hanging out with her. My sister, Jackie stayed one night with us too, it was nice to catch up and just have some girl time. Here are a few shots from my stay, mostly grad shots, but also some with the boys too. Hunter is quite the camera hog....cant imagine where he got that from!!!

Our first night Jackie was working late, so we went to a Mexican restuarant for dinner....very cute place, here's a shot from outside.

Our little graduate

It's official!

Whaaaa? ok, maybe not!

Jake, Tom, Jackie, Anna, Me & Hunter

Anna and Me

Jake, me & Hunter the hamAnna & the future graduate!

Hunter being oh so cute at the restuarant, he was playing model for me.Last but not least...Tj at the ABQ airport headed for home.

Next stop.....Florida in June.

A way out West.....

2008-05-07T12:34:00.000-07:00

As you can see, it's very beautiful country out in Colorado...although really dry!!! Here's a few shots from our trip, as usual, we had a ball. And kept out of jail to tell about it!!!! We were in Manitou Springs where we were suppose to stay in the Keepsake Inn. Well, they decided we didnt need to all stay in the same room that we paid for....so we left. We had our scrapping weekend all set up, so we were ticked to say the least. But we sucked it up, found another hotel with ajoining rooms and all was well. Manitou Springs is a very picturesque little town with lots of shops. Mostly geared towards women, Leeayn and I had lots of places to shop. Here are a few shots from the trip.

Manitou Springs

Leeayn taking a sip from a local spring.

Manitou Cliff Dwellings
A really interesting place. Hard to believe families were raised in these.

Ok, you know we couldnt pass this one up!!

A Teepee

The Cliff Dwellings

This was a doorway!!
TJ and I discussing the tour!
The Cog Train, we didnt go up in it, but as you see we made a new friend.
She said "hop on, I'll get ya down"....so I did!!!
We were so tired....well, some of us were! Sadly, this was our first day!

Silly girls!
Damn, we were really tired! Must have been the altitude.
Woooohoooo, look at these babes!! Who made those cute outfits!

Like Kerri said, we are too cute!

Leeayn demonstrating the proper method for a pat down! Mommy!!!!

Naughty Monkey!

And the last day we finally got to scrap. It was an awesome shop and we had a really good time, it went by way too fast. Wish we had that place here.

And all good things come to an end. Can you believe we had to walk the tarmac to get on the plane? I was shocked. Not only that we had to walk a freakin mile to get there!!! We were worn out though, slept all the way home. Stay tuned for the next trip....Albquerque, MN.

Partners in Crime!!!

2008-04-14T18:04:00.000-07:00

I dont know why everyone talks of bail money when Leeayn and I get together. The following pictures will show our perfectly respectable time together. Ok, maybe one exception of the autopsy room!!!! I hadnt flown alone in a long time, but I did great and was really glad I took the trip. Here are a few shots from my days with Leeayn....I had a ball. I sure hope California doesnt slide off into the ocean so i can go back some day!!!!

We'll start at the beginning, Leeayn's house....isnt it darling? I totally love her yard/gardens, she does a great job.

Our first night we headed down to the pier to a bar to eat dinner while the guys watched baseball and we chatted with friends.
The next day we started off with a walk along the water...very nice!!
Leeayn and her hubby, Gary....with Rudy.
Well Tuesday night is Coroners office night!! No, i wasnt scared...much! Why does she look perfectly at home!?!?!?! Unlike me!!

Diggin up bones....

I see dead people. :0Ok, on to what I do best...Shopping & Eatting! Aren't we totally cute in our dresses, yes...we bought them. I thought it would be perfect to wear to Anna's graduation in ALBQ next month.And it's always a fun night with the girls.....and Paul!

This shot is from lunch, what a great spot.

And now for my travel brochure pictures!

This was our last full day, we spent it at the beach and had a great day. Let me tell you what good exercise walking in the sand all day is!!! We climbed over rocks, walked in the sand, collected beach glass, watched the kids get excited over digging caves and catching critters...it was great. Of course we could hardly walk when we got out of the car when we got back home, but totally worth it! Cant wait to go back sometime.

Dancin with the Stars in Chicago!!

2008-01-06T14:03:00.000-08:00

Sweet Home Chicago!!!

Another season, another tour. Emily and I headed off to Chicago to see another tour date of Dancing with the Stars. Our seats were fairly good, although not as great as they were in Peoria last summer. It's hard to get some good shots of the dancers cause they move so darn fast! But here's a few from the evening.

Of course there had to be a little Blues Brothers action.
I love Mark and Sabrina, they are awesome together.
Joey and Kym, always fun to watch.

Kym is John's favorite.

Joey and Edyta...they are both so damn buff!
Another chemistry moment from Sabrina & Mark.
Joey and the ladies!
Ouch!
Monique, from High School Musical & Louis

Edyta & her husband, Alec.

Lastly, Wayne Newton....everyone seemed to love him, and he did have a sweetness about him....the ol' fart.

The End!

A way out West!!!!

2007-11-20T13:28:00.001-08:00

Here we go again!!!! Another trip for Grandma & Emily. We took a long weekend and headed out west to Albuquerque to see Jackie and family. The trip started out a little rocky at the airport, but we finally made it out there, actually had a decent flight...if you take stinky man, tourettes girl and the babies out of it!!!

Here we are on the bus on the way into Ohare.

Here's the kids...together again.

First day we headed to a mall, Jackie and I got pedicures while we sent the kids off to shop around. Then we spoted Santa...too early, but thought it a good photo op.
Ok, so I'm a little tickleish.

Jake & Hunter with Santa. Santa and the girls, Anna & Emily.

Later that day, we head to the tram. That was very cool.

They had a really cute restuarant there, so we stayed for dinner.

Me tasting Jackie's margarita. It was ok.

Next day was "Old Town", we couldnt pass up this photo op for sure.

Jackie by her chili peppers

A beautiful old Catholic Church...Emily went to Church!

Can you see the hidden mickey?

Emily and Anna love hats.

Any kind of hats!!!The locals selling their jewelry. Cool stuff.

Had a nice lunch w/a great desert...Flan....yummy

Just a quiet moment for Emily. I like this shot.

That night we took the kids...including Hunter's little friends to IT'Z, a glorified Chucky Cheezes. They had fun and us adults went to the Elephant Bar for dinner. Yum Yum...Mongolian Beef...very good.

So this is the end of the trip and our final pictures. Sad to go, but we had a great time and are looking forward to going back next May for Anna's graduation.....in the motor home!!!!

Tower of Terror 13K

2007-11-04T14:25:00.000-08:00

Inaugural Twilight Zone

Tower of Terror 13K

OK, Who's idea was this!?!?!?! Amber....... Well this is what happens when you procrastinate and miss the chance to get into the short race, someone talks you into the big one. What was I thinking?!?! Although I knew it would be a challenge, it was one that got me wondering if I could do it or not. Actually, I just wanted to finish and live to tell about it! As you know, I only do it for the BLING!

Just me and two of my friends, Amber & Jonathan, oh yeah and 4,000 other people!

These were the mile markers along the way...wish i'd stopped for 8, but i just wanted to finish and not waste time.

This was on the sign oustide of the Wide World of Sports.

run, run, run, run......

Thank you Jesus, it's over, and I made it! You're right, I look tired....I was!

A nice guy took this pic for me after the race, he got down on his knees to get the Hotel sign in the shot....we had to help him back up...he ran too.

Last but not least......Da BLING!

Fast Forward 37 years!!! Yikes....

2007-10-16T13:31:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday Kerri

If Kerri thinks time has gone by fast with her kids, she should be in my shoes!!!! We all went out to dinner last night to celebrate Kerri's 37th birthday. I dont know where the years have gone, but I must say she DOES NOT look 37!!! And just cause I'm her mommy, doesnt mean it isnt true....cause I look 37! hahaha!!! Ok, seriously folks.... Here are a few shots from last night. We went to a local Japanese restaurant, JMK Nippon.

Here is our offical time of birth shot.....5:33 pm

Our Chef, the food was great.

Sushi....no, i didnt eat it.

Kerri's happy birthday song in japanese, Mitch liked it!

The Birthday....fruit? A perfect diet dessert!!! One last shot of mom & daughter in front of the falls.

Tattoomania....can you take it?!?!?!?!

2007-10-09T18:06:00.000-07:00

Well I didnt realize what a tattoo adventure this trip was going to be!!! They were everywhere! The trip started out with a visit to Kat Von D's new shop, High Voltage. I must admit, i was a little disapointed when we first walked in and didnt see anyone from Kat's show, LA Ink.....then Kim walked in. So we took a few pics and went along our way. Still exciting.

Me & Kim

After Kat's shop, we headed to Dana Point to Leeayn's tattoo shop, Raygun. Her guy, Ryan I think, took at look at my old tat that was looking a little shabby and proceeded to draw me a new one. He had done great work on Leeayn, so I was comfortable with his work. I was a bit nervous, but after the outlining was done, it went really well. Here's a few shots from the day.

You can see the old tattoo under his outline work.

Hard at work.

Lookin a little ugly!

Wholly cow, he did a great job!!

I just love my ladybug.

After we got back to the hotel, our valet, who was a retired Marine (didnt look like a Marine) asked us what we had been up to and we told him about our tat adventures...he proceeded to tell us about his!!! Of course he had to take us into the back room so he could take his shirt off! He was fun and a cutie. He had some symbols on his right arm, which he called the "good arm", they meant Mother, Father, Brother & sister. Then his other arm was the evil arm and then his Grimreaper on his back.

E-VIL arm

The severed head represents his sisters old abusive boyfriend, which he went and "took care of things", as he said after the boyfriend hit her one night.

Here is the tat on my BFF Hillary's back....aka "Squishie" .
Her and her sister designed this tattoo. Note the center is a lady bug, which you will see more of on us gals with Tats.

This is Lizzie from my beauty shop....i just think it's a cool Tat.

Since I've totally gone off in space here.....here is a real Tat of Hollyann's that she got while visiting us last fall, and Kerri's...uhm, not so real tat!! She is such a Bears fan tho, if she got a real one, it would be a Chicago Bears one I'm sure of it!!! The next three are holly's too, the last being my fav.

This is my high school friend, Kirby's tattoo, it's in honor of his son.
More to come......

California Dreamin...

2007-10-06T08:26:00.001-07:00

Stick a fork in it....Summer is done!!!!

Wow, what a great Mother/Daughter trip Kerri and I had. It's always great fun to get together with our friends out there....never a dull moment!!! Here we are with Holly as we first enter the park.

We were getting on the Pooh ride, Kerri was going to sit alone in the front to get some pics, when a man and his little girl jumped on with her.....we dubbed them "her new family" lol Of course we had to laugh at her.....and you can see her response.

Of course then we had to find her another family, one that had the same sports preferences!!!

Wow, it's the great pumpkin!!!Leeayn and I at Club 33....we were such good girls.
Me and Minnie
The infamous skyline of LA

Hollywood here we come!!
Kat Von D's shop from LA Ink....High Voltage with tattoo artist, Kim. She's such a doll.
Castle pic

Illinois!!!!!!!

(ya had to be there)

Dog Dayz of Summer...

2007-09-17T17:29:00.000-07:00

Ok, so it doesnt have anything to do with the weather, but I just felt like posting, and what better subjects than my girls! Here's just a few (of many) of my favorite pics of them.

Smiling Cairns

Dori by the Azeleas

A Trip to Disneyland

Got to start them out right!

Just a cute shot of Dori

Is this the face of guilty???

Dont fence me in!!

Happy New Year my ass!

And the fun continues!

2007-08-31T18:38:00.000-07:00

Leeayn visits the farm...

The last few days have went too fast. Leeayn got here Sunday evening and was here till Thursday morning. As usual, it was great fun. We decided we must be pretty good friends when we can just hang out in the living room sending links to goofy crap back and forth to each other across the room!!!! Lots of laughs over the dumb beauty contestant!!! John basically hid out in the motor home, he just pretended he was camping! I'm sure by time we were done with the ride home from picking her up his ears were bleeding from all the chatter. We did cook for him a couple of nights though and took him out to breakfast one morning. Then we'd run off and do our own thing. Here's a few things we did for the three days.

Well, ya start at what ya love to do..... so we went to eat!!! And we *heart* Subway! Sorry, I could'nt pass that one up!!!

Mmmmm, Subway...

Of course we must fill up on caffiene before we leave...

Heading to Walmart to stock up on craft paint.

We met a new friend....

Ok, so everyone was laughing at us....we dont care!!! We screwed with their minds by taking their pictures!

So many crafts, so little time.

I wanted to paint our project plaid!!!

But Leeayn had other ideas.

I guess nothing is out of bounds with us!!! Like my shoes though???

Well we have the paint, but now what do we put it on???? Off to Kerri's house and into the backyard to swipe a few stones.
Ahh, my precious!

And the finish product! Leeayn did the darling turtle and I did the rest, some from a while back and three while she was here.

Ok, off to lunch again at a darling tea room.... no pics of it, but look at what Leeayn dug out of her soup!!!!!

We went to a street dance in Rockton, this little boy was so cute, he just loved the fiddle player. He was a riot to watch all night, he was the real show.

And that was the end of our visit. We had so much fun we're going to do it again next month!!!! Hahaha! Next year I will go to Leeayn's house and I'm looking forward to that.

Phase Three of My Summer Tour!!!

2007-08-15T17:58:00.000-07:00

Wow, what a busy summer it's been. We are closing in on 4 weeks and counting!!! After Kerri and family left us, we hung out for a few days, did a little furniture shopping, ate out, hung out....and waited for Emily to show back up! She came in on a Monday and we took off on Tuesday for the Keys. There are a lot of characters in the Keys....including us....here's a few shots from that trip.

Creepy shot going across some of the bridges.

Here's a few shots from our RV site at Blue Water Key, it's a really nice park.

This is just a really cool tree I saw while site seeing.

Ofcourse the beach shot.

We had a day when we went out on John's cousin, Kris' boat...that was fun, we snorkled but then I got a little seasick so we headed back in. I think we went out a little far and it was just a little creepy in a small boat. It did take a good turn on the way back in though when we came across a bunch of dolphins, that was really cool.

A couple days later we went out on wave runners....that was pretty cool. Most of the area we went in was fairly smooth, until they took us out in the ocean...oh my God, that was so rough. I had let Emily drive at one point out there and what a mistake that was. Between it being rough and her having the need for speed, I just about ending up in the ocean!!!! There isnt enough of Emily to hang on to!!!! We swapped places until we got to a smoother area for her to drive. That was pretty scary for a while. She was ticked I made her move for a while too. She would have done better on her own, but you had to be 16. We will definately try this again, but maybe in a lake situation, where it's more calm.....and no ocean liners to dodge!!!!

Emily and I went shopping the next day and did lunch. We stopped at a hat shop....dont even get me started on the snotty shop lady!!!! Emily has told me to get over it, so I will.....the bag. lol But anyway, we managed to get a few shots before we got kicked out and went and had lunch at Jimmy Buffets, Margaritaville. Cute place! And she also found some nice little outfits for Kerri!!!! LOL Just kidding Kerri!

This day we went to Hogsbreath for lunch....I had a "fresh" chicken sandwich!!!!

Mallory park is something they say you should do. Everyone goes down there right before sunset and watch the street preformers and the boats go by, do a little shopping and of course.....eat!!! Earlier in the day it was Lobsterfest day in Key West, and the crazies were out!!!

Emily got pulled from the crowd to help with an illusion.

I have no clue.....

Him either, he was just up there dancing in front of the band.....alone! I offered Emily 10 bucks to run up and dance with him....she didnt take me up on it!!!!

MMMMMMMM, Lobster!!!!!

Or shark!!!

Here we were for lunch at Hard Rock....Emily teaching Grandpa the moves of being cool!

Well all good things must come to an end, and this trip is no different. I hated to see Emily go, she's a good traveling buddy. I know she was ready to head home to get back with her buds. Until the next phase of my summer.......

And she's gone...... :(

Gettin High with Grandma!!!!

2007-07-31T12:24:00.000-07:00

And our summer tour continues.....

Parasailing at WDW

Ok, so Kerri will kill me for that title!!!! LOL...just the same, we were high!!! High with excitement for our trip up in the sky. I seriously cant believe it was my idea to do this since I'm such a white knuckle flyer!! But hey, I understand this! It was awesome, Emily had as much fun as I did. It's so strange up there, very calm.....until the boat changes direction then it feels like your going to stall out....but you dont! We went out with another couple that went up, a Dad and his daughter, she was about Emily's age and a single guy that went up too. We were lucky that the Dad used our camera and took some shots of us on our journey. This was fun, I really like doing some of these off the wall things with Emily. Cant wait for the Keys and our wave runner adventure!!! Let the good times roll!!!!!

Here is Emily and I before we headed out to the boat.

Here's us getting on the boat.
Us on the boat.
Emily getting suited up, then me next. Now wait, are we sure we wanna do this?
And away we goooooooo!!!!!!!

Wooohooooooo!!!

My Favorite pic of Emily

A shot of the two of us....

What a view!!

Dang we were up a ways!

Coming in for a landing.

And we made it!!!

Our terrific crew, Dave & Kim

Dancing with the Stars!!!!!

2007-07-24T15:32:00.001-07:00

Last Sunday, Emily and I drove to Peoria, IL to spend the night and go to the tour date for Dancing With The Stars.

It was AWESOME!!!! The stars were Joey Fatone, Joey McIntyre and Joey Lawrence. They all looked terrific, Joey F. is so funny and fun to watch, Joey Lawrence is soooo buff!!! And Joey Mac was also terrific although I'm not so familiar with him. The pro dancers, all I can say is they were incredible. I dont think I've ever seen anyone is such awesome shape. The girls are all so beautiful and wonderful dancers, you can't even hate them!! We dressed all up and stayed at an old hotel downtown about 1/2 block from the civic center, which was nice to be able to just walk there. There were tons of people around and we got to meet a few nice groups.

I paid a little extra and got one of the tables on the dance floor, oh man was it worth it. Our table was in the second row and very good. I noticed a table to my right that was right up front along the stage that remained empty for the night, I told Emily if it was still empty at the break, we were making a move on it! The lights came back up and we made our move. A few minutes later another lady came over and asked if two of her friends could come and share our table as one of the ladies was having a birthday. Sure thing, but if we get busted we all go back to our original seats. The two remaining ladies took our old seats. The two ladies that sat with us were named Teri and Carrie...how funny is that!!! They all crawled out of a stretched limo when we walked up, so we met them right away.

Here is a shot of us before our night....we clean up good huh?

These are our original table mates.

And this is our new group!

Were'nt we nice and close!!!

Dancing to Footloose.

Joey Fatone saw Emily trying to hone in on him for a pic with her phone, he stopped to pose, but she got so flustered, she missed the shot and you can see how good I did!!

Joey L. & Edyta

Joey M. & Julieanne

Louis & Cheryl

The final bow. Emily and I will do this again, it was great fun.

Well everyone else stold it, why cant I?!?!?!?!

2007-06-03T13:12:00.000-07:00

1. When’s the last time you ran?A couple of weeks ago on the bike path.

2. Do your jeans have rips, tears, and holes in them?No

3. What are you dreading right now? Having that final lunch with my niece, Anna on tuesday before she moves to NM.....stupid jackie.

4. Did you celebrate 4/20? uhm...no

6. Favorite ice cream? Rocky Road!

7. When was your last doctor’s visit? Around March

8. Do you get the full 8 hours of sleep a night? I wouldnt even know what that's like.

12. If anyone came to your house on your “lazy days” what would they find you wearing?pajamas

14. Have you ever been on your school’s track team? Oh yeah, sure...NOT!

15. Do you own a pair of Converse?no.

17. Do you eat raw cookie dough?used to when i baked sometimes

19. Don’t you hate when the radio ruins good songs by playing them too much?YES!

21. Do you watch Trading Spaces?no

22. How do you eat oreos?I haven't eaten an oreo in forever

23. Have you ever stayed online for a very long time waiting for someone?no

24. Are you cocky? Oh god, what do you think!!!!

30. Could you live without a computer? Somedays I'd like to throw it out the window, other days i could live on it.

31. Do you wear your shoes in the house? yeah

33. At what age did you find out that Santa wasn’t real?I have no idea

34. How many phones, house phones and cell phones are in your house?3 house phones, john's cell and my cell

35. What do you do when you’re sad? unfortuneately i eat.

36. Who would you call first if you won the lottery?Kerri.

37.Last time you saw your best friends? Well, sadly i have no local 'best friends', so lets say last halloween at wdw!

40. Who or what sleeps with you? 2 dogs and john if he's not snoring, or emily when she stays over.

45. Is anyone on your bad side right now? Ha!!

46. What jewelry are you wearing? just my wedding rings

47. What’s the first thing you do when you get online?Email, the farm, my rv site, cairn site

49. Do you watch Grey’s Anatomy?YES!

50. How do most people spell your name? Terri

51. Would you wear a boy/girlfriends clothes?yeah.

54. Where do you work? At home, I'm a domestic Goddess.

56. What are you doing tomorrow? Probably getting a tire fixed, taking a sewing machine in for servicing, a vacuum in for a tune up aaaaaaand, that's about it.

57. Is Justin Timberlake becoming the next Michael Jackson? I hope the hell not.

58. Favorite name for a girl? Well duh, Kerri!

59. Favorite name for a boy?hmmm....not sure.

60. Will you keep your last name if you get married?no

61. Your favorite restaurant you don’t get to eat much at? hmmm, not sure.

62. When is the last time you left your house? this noon to go to lunch and circuit city

67. Do you return your cart?Usually

69. Do you have a dishwasher?Yes

70. What noise do you hear? the fan of the airconditioner and the wind.

71. Would you survive in prison? I'd be the gang leader ! LOL

72. Next concert you hope to go to? Oh man, probably nothing.

73. What was the last thing you ate? a can of mandarin orange slices

74. Who was the last person you said “i love you” to and meant it? Anna :(

75. Who is the youngest in your family? Emily my great niece.

76. If all of your friends were going on a road trip, who would be the most likely to over pack? It would be sue, she's high maintenence!!!!

77. Do you know anyone with the same name as you? no

78. How many shoes do you own?probably 12 pair after friday

79. when was the last time you ate peanut butter?years ago

81. What service is your cell phone?verizon

82. What’s for dinner? I have no freakin idea.

83. What’s the last thing you purchased? a XD card and card reader for my new camera.

84. Do your siblings ever pay for stuff for you?Ha! that's a joke, right???

85. Where is your cell phone?next to me on the side table.

86. Is your phone on vibrate or ring?ring

87. What brand are your pants right now?no clue

88. Did you eat breakfast this morning?Yes, oatmeal and 1 piece sourdough toast

90. Do you like marshmallows? definately, with chocolate on them

91. What irritates you most on the internet? pop ups

92. What brand is your digital camera?The New Olympus underwater/shockproof Stylus 770SW

93. Do you watch movies with your parents? i hope not, they're both dead.

96. What song best describes your life right now?? I dont know, is there a song about "Fat Tuesday?" ironic it's the day i weigh in on!!!!

97. Do you own expensive perfume/cologne?nope...

98. Are you taking college classes right now?no

101. Do you like sushi? never tried it, but i'm pretty sure I'd hate it.

102. Do you get your hair cut every month?no, but i should

103. Do you go online everyday? yes

2007-05-16T16:21:00.000-07:00

Now who would have thought you'd see this on my blog??? Nope, me neither. My friend, Amber evidently thought I could and had confidence in me!! I admit I had my doubts in the weeks leading up to the race, but I hung in there and walked daily in preperation for the big day. It wasnt the distance that bothered me, it was the time frame I had to do it in. I honestly wasn't as nervous as I thought I was going to be when i got there. John and I arrived nice and early he kept cheering me on. Waiting is not my strong suit, I just wanted to get on with it. Once the gun went off or the whistle blew, we were off!!!! It wasnt 5 seconds and I was knocking people out of my way cause they wanted to stop and high five Minnie!!!! I'm here to race, get the heck out of my way!!!!! So here's a few shots from the day, and Amber, thank you for getting me involved. It was a big deal for this old lady to do the race, and most importantly.....I got the Bling!!!!!

Here is Amber and I picking up our packets the day before.

Just hanging out waiting for things to get going.

An early riser I'm not....notice how dark it is!!!

The race course

And we're off!!!

Along the route at Pleasure Island

Can i hear an Amen, the race is over!

Final Photo!!!

"The Bling!"

Next stop...Tower Of Terror 6k!!!!

2007-04-14T14:14:00.000-07:00

Friday the 13th!!!!!!!

Well i thought i'd bring the kids over for the day since there was no school. Mitch decided right away this was a good chance to get in shape! If grandma can do it, he can do it!

Mitchel

A little Gazelle action!

Ok, so the treadmill wasnt really on.....
It's time to "pump you up"
Ignore John's mess in the back, that's what happens when he cleans!!! Mitch is having fun on the bike though, he really goes on it.
Ok, heck with the Abs...this thing rocks for a nap!!!!

Emily & Kayla

Emily brought her best bud Kayla out for the day. These two just get totally crazy when they hang out. I think they took over 100 pics this day!!

We had to run to the bank before going to the house, and they saw the cow!!!! Photo Op!!!

Then there was a gazebo

And time to make a snowman....

Note that they have a pair of mitchels underwear on 'over' their pants!!!

And then kill him......girls, girls, girls....what am i gonna do with you two!!!

A girls day out....

2007-03-30T18:44:00.000-07:00

Well Emily had a busy day, first she did a little shoe trying on.....isnt she cute!!!!

Here's her before pic....does she look scared? I was!!!!

Oh My Gawd, I'm so cute!!!!

Debbie is on her 3rd generation of hair!!!

Cute - Cute - Cute!!!!!

Winter Woes....

2007-03-03T15:58:00.000-08:00

March.....In like a Lion, out like a lamb. Well lets hope so!!! This has been a cold, snowy winter and i'm ready for summer. Here's a few shots from our weekend so far. First off, we had to clear the way to head out for breakfast. Here's John in his new tractor with the snowthrower on it.

Snow plow, we dont need no stinkin snow plow!!!

Mitch wanted to play with Dori and Ellie, but they'd rather play on him!!

Ellie shows Mitch a little love!

And when the day is done, it's time to crash....

Happy Birthday and Adios....

2007-02-28T18:49:00.000-08:00

Birthday Boy!!!!

aka static head!

Well here we are at Chuck E Cheese's....my very first time!!!! It was my little nephew, Hunter's birthday along with sort of a farewell party for his whole family. My sister, Jackie and her family are moving to New Mexico....I cant spell Albequrqe, so I'll stick to New Mexico. Jackie leaves on friday, the boys to follow on spring break, and Anna and Tom when school is out. Anyway, here are some shots from tonight. Anna and Emily are always entertaining when it comes to posing!!!

Lets show the folks what they can buy Bob......

Weeeeeee, this is fun!!!!!

Jake doin a little soccer

Emily and her rat friend!!

Duuuuuude!

Wooohoooo, look at all our tickets!!!

Mitch workin the games...

Name that Thing!!!!

2007-02-03T11:21:00.000-08:00

Stolen from LaRelle

Rules: Use the 1st letter of your name to answer each of the following...They MUST be real places, names, things...NOTHING made up! If you can't think of anything, skip it. Try to use different answers if the person in front of you had the same 1st initial. You CAN'T use your name for the boy/girl name question.

Your Name: Terry

1. Famous Athlete: Tai Babalonia

2. 4 letter word: talk

3. Street name: Taylor St.

4. Color:Teal

5. Animal: tiger

6. Vehicles: Trucks

7. Tropical Locations: Tobago

8. College Majors: Theological studies

9. Dairy Products: Turtle cheesecake

10. Things in a Souvenir Shop: ties

11. Boy Name: Tab

12. Girl Name: Tilly

13. Movie Title: Tin Cup

15. Occupations: Teacher

16. Flowers: tiger lillies

17. Celebrities: Tom Seleck

18. Magazines: Time

19. U.S. Cities or State : Texas

20. Pro Sports Teams: Toronto Maple leafs

21. Something Found in a kitchen: table

22. Reason for Being Late: tired

23. Something You Throw Away: trash

24. Things You Shout: TaTa!!!

25. Cartoon Character: Tigger

Q&A time...stolen from Holly

2007-01-15T16:48:00.000-08:00

1. You have 10 bucks and need to buy snacks at a gas station, what do you get?A diet pepsi, a bag of mrs fishers potato chips and chocolate.

2. If you had to be reincarnated as some sort of sea dwelling creature, what would you be? Hmmm, one of those funny looking fish that blend in with the sand....wont get eaten that way, or clubed on the head like the cute baby seals.

3. Who's your favorite redhead? Lucy

4. What do you order when you're at a pancake house? French toast with side order of bacon and a diet pepsi.

Last book you read. A Nicolas Sparks book, cant think of the name-but I'm not done yet.

6. Have you made out with anyone on your myspace friend's list? Nope

7. Describe your favorite pair of underwear. LOL, arrrrgh...my pirate panties!!!

8. Describe the last time you were injured. Breaking my wrist a couple of years ago at wdw.

9. Of all your friends, with whom would you want to be stuck in the middle of a jungle? Well if it has to be friends not family, it would have to be Leeayn...i'm sure we could figure out how to make shelter and laugh through the whole process!!

10. Are there any odd things that make you feel uncomfortable? Hmmmm, people with no teeth talking to me bother me, but a bra ranks right up there too!!!!

11. Are there any weird things that turn you on? I'm thinking the 5th on this one too.

12. What is the wallpaper on your cell phone? Dori and Ellie, you know....kerri's sisters!

13. Pop??? yes....pop.

14. Flavor?I dont really understand it either so I'll say diet pepsi.

15. What type of shirt are you wearing?Well it's 20 degrees out, so naturally i have a tshirt on that says "Happy Camper".

16. Prescription medication? None

17. If you could use only one form of transportation for the rest of your life, what would it be?A truck is fine....

18. How many people are on your myspace friends list?l Like 6?

19. How many people on your myspace list do you know in real life?all 6 of them,

20. What are you listening to right now? Yuk, we're watching old Mohamad Ali stuff.

21. Most recent movie you've watched:Field of Dreams...like the hundreth time.

22. Name 3 things you have with you at all times:Banana boat lip stuff, cell phone, lotion

23. Would you rather give or receive a foot massage Recieve.

24. Name a teacher you had the hots for:Mr Denton, 6th grade....

25. What is a saying that you use a lot? awesome

27. What is your favorite part of the chicken?Legs and thigh

28. What's your favorite city? Oh gee....I guess where my family is...most of them anyway!

29. Favorite kind of cake?chocolate mayonaise cake made by my friend Judy.

30. What's the first word that comes to mind right now? SUMMER

31. When was the last time you saw your mom in person? March 11th 1999

32. What makes you feel like puking? seeing the dogs eat nasty stuff....like puke!!!

33. What did you have for dinner LAST NIGHT?I think i had some sort of frozen dinner.

34. How long have you been at your current job? almost 30 years....lol

35. What's the last thing you said out loud?"HUH, what?

36. Look to your right, what do you see? built in shelves

37. Look to your left, what do you see? husband asleep in chair

38. Who is the last person who spent $100 on you? John

39. Who's your favorite villain? Not sure

40. What's the last piece of clothing you borrowed from someone?From Jackie, Party dress.

41. What's the last piece of clothing you bought? a shirt at walmart

42. What phrase makes you laugh no matter where, when or how?" Ya got my cheese whiz boy? LOL...see, everytime!!!

43. Go into your text message log on your phone...what is the last text you sent?" Rochelle called.

44. What is the last text message you received?"they offered me the job, not much money"

No Resolutions....

2007-01-10T14:08:00.000-08:00

Well here we are in a new year, how do they go by so fast. It's the time for resolutions ...which i stopped making years ago. This year I'm going to make a promise to myself, a promise to get healthy. I'm tired of being fat, out of shape and feeling down right lousy. My mom died way too young, and most of her illnesses stemmed from her weight issues. My older sister is heading down the same path....I will not let that happen to me. I am blessed with so much in my life and i'm gonna stick around to either see others grow old, grandkids get married, wear all my cool toys out and spend all our money!!!!!

It's a tough thing to loose weight for me, I have no other vises....I dont smoke, dont drink....I do cuss like a sailor, but that never killed anyone!!!! So having to eat does create some problems! Making permanent changes are hard, but I'm trying. Usually I dont advertise this stuff, at least not to the world. But maybe I should, the more people that are watching over my shoulder, maybe I'll be less likely to sneak that 3 muskateers bar (God I love those!), they go good with pepsi you know, and I'll stay a little more honest with myself. I'm working on keeping busy, actually getting off my ass and on my treadmill.....and that new snappy Ab Lounger Kerri got me. I guess all my hinting (loudly) worked! I know I'll have bad days, but I'm going to put those behind me and move on. I have to do it this time, I really feel I have to.

So with the help of family and a few good friends.....I'm gonna do it this time. Below is my fat pic.....Next Thanksgivings pic will be better....remember, i promised!!

Christmas at Keeneland

2006-12-26T10:33:00.000-08:00

Here's just a peek at our family on Christmas Eve. Everyone seem to love what they got, and a good time was had by all...

The Tree

Our kids, man are they all growing up too fast.

The Three Families

Oh Aunt Terry, dont make me do this......

Mitchel with his requested toy!!! The boy had great lists for everyone!

John and his Blu-Ray DVD player

Kerri and Sweetness

Jackie and her new Tinkerbell.

Emily and the nightmare theme!!

And at the other end of the scale, Anna and her pink raggy scrap quilt!

I'm not sure, but I think Jake likes it too!!! LOL

Boonie loves his lego Sponge Bob. He's pretty good at cheesing for the camera!!!!

Grandpa and his photo display Emily made just for him. You can tell he likes it by the smile on his face!!!!!!

And last but not least...."The Quilt!"

How Much Fun Can One Hick Town Take In a Day!!!

2006-12-03T15:30:00.000-08:00

What's more fun than mud!!! What else do you do on Sunday night but hit the mud bogs. There is a speedway with mud bogs in Polk City, and tonight they were having some fun. We happen to go by as it was winding down and there was mud everywhere! The air was even full of dirt as we drove by. Like Amber would say ...."Good Times".

Small Town Parades.....

2006-12-03T10:39:00.000-08:00

Well it's that time of the year when all the small towns have their Christmas Parade...and Polk City is no different. Here's a few of the floats and people in our parade. Some pics are blurry and some I'm too close on, so sorry!!! But you'll get the idea.

Of course every parade has to start with the squad car....probably the same one that stopped me and right at this very spot!!

This was the car pulling the sleigh with Santa & Mrs Clause...sorry it's blurry, it was cute.

And dont all parades sell crap along the sidelines???

And most importanly, I got a bunch of beads and I didnt even have to take off my shirt to get them! And you know I would have!!!! LOL

Thanksgiving at Kerri's.....

2006-11-27T09:54:00.000-08:00

Here's a few shots from me from our family Thanksgiving.....you'll notice the scary resembleance to kerri's!!!

First is John doing his rendition of "Rawhide"...did a darn good job too!

Here's John and Jake playing a little pool....notice the mysterious orb over Jake!!!!

And I have no clue what these two wackos are doing!!!

Ahhh, Emily and her fashion statement. Funny thing is this is her tinkerbell from like four years ago!!!! It's almost too big now.

Tom and Kerri doing a little dance....I think to LaBamba....

And Mitchel, cracks me up everytime I think of it. I may have a video of this, i have to look.

I love this shot of kerri and the kids.

This was the teen plus group of girls. Oddly enough the shortest one is the oldest of the group. She must be in her early 20's by now though.

And here's a cute shot of Mitch and Hunter.

More Pirates and campsites

2006-11-09T18:28:00.000-08:00

Here's a few more campsite decorations, I love these blow ups.

Here's a few pics of my niece, Anna and nephews, Jake and Hunter.

A Day at Animal Kingdom

2006-11-09T16:28:00.000-08:00

We had a fun day at Animal Kingdom and even ran an unexpected race! LOL Right after the L's did Expedition Everest and Leeayn and I did the bird show, we literally sprinted over to the Lion King Show. We were really bookin it!! Here's a few shots from that day.

What can I say, I had to put this one in!!!! LOL

Halloween and all things scary!!!!!

2006-11-09T14:14:00.000-08:00

OK, maybe not scary...but a little freakish!!!

Here's a few shots from the parade and from some of the campsites at Ft Wilderness.

Of course the pirate whench crew and a rebel Tinkerbell,

my niece, Anna.

This is a site at FWCG, some folks go all out, it's really fun to see them.

Campground

Parade float

Parade Floats

LaRelle, just being coy. You can see Leeayn next to her and Anna and Jake in the background. Yes, I know about picture taking during the rides.....did it anyway!!!

The Adventure Continues....

2006-11-09T13:02:00.000-08:00

Well I've given up on adding to the last post...so here's a few more shots.

We went to Japan for dinner and that was really nice. We had an excellent chef and he really had a sense of humor....unitl Leeayn brought up WWII.

Thank you very much!!!!! Here's his response to her!!!!!

You can see the embarrassment in Larilyn behind her.....LOL

He asked me how I wanted my steak done, I said...Medium...medium well, surprise me, so he flopped the raw steak up on my plate, then proceeded to try and feed me!

This is my cutie nephew, Hunter Boone and his dad, Tom. Looks like Hunter was getting the hang of the chop sticks.

A gaggle of girls, a lot of L's....anyway you look at them, they're crazy!

Of course it wouldnt be complete without the onion volcano!!

Now for a trip around the world to walk off dinner.

You just know we had to try these on!!! Patriotic if nothing else!!!

Halloween at WDW with the 3-L's

2006-11-07T20:40:00.000-08:00

Well we've been waiting for this trip since June! The 3-L's finally made it to WDW for Halloween. We had a blast. We walked our asses off, (dont i wish) shopped, ate and rode on everything. Here's a few shots from our trip. My sister, Jackie and her family came too. Everyone looked really cool for the party.

This first one shows the shock in Leeayns face when she see's our BIG castle!!! Kerri calls this shot "castle envy"!!!!

Here we are waiting to go in to Mickey's Philharmonic, cute show.

And I dont think this one needs any explaination!

I'm not sure what we were doing here....

but we sure thought it was funny!

We had to fight a little kid to get this shot. We thought we were going to have to chuck him out a window there for a little while. He was actually standing on the table yelling at us!

More on the river

2006-09-10T17:05:00.000-07:00

Here's our site on the River, it was a pretty neat spot, did get a little hot late in the day,

but it was cool.

From another angle

Ellie Mae

Dori

Up The Lazy River.....

2006-09-07T14:42:00.000-07:00

We took a little trip down the Ol' Mississippi River the other day, had a very nice camping spot and saw some fun things. They are in random order.

Imagine seeing a riverboat on the river!!! Probably a gambling one.

We saw quite a few barges along the river, this was the nicest looking one.

Not sure what the windmill was all about, we didnt look for any info...but figured it was a great photo-op!

This would be the first stop.....

And this would be the second stop!!!! Note the sign on the top.

Let the Good Times Roll....part one!

2006-08-29T17:41:00.000-07:00

Welcome to Keeneland Leeayn.....

I was so excited Leeayn came to my house, I still cant believe she was here!!!!! We had such a good time, it just went too darn fast. She will definately have to come back some day.

Here we are at Fibs, that was a totally fun night.

Thanks Kerri for not minding your mom to come and cramp your style!!!!

Here was our rendention of "Freinds in Low Places". As you see we got a little help.

These guys were so cute and such fun to watch.

Well after that night, we woke up hungry!!!!! We couldnt decide what we wanted, so we got a little bit of everthing!!! No, we didnt eat it all.

Thank god this is my site, I'm not showing my picture at the table! Ha!!!!

Let The Good Times Roll....part two

2006-08-29T16:48:00.000-07:00

Here's Leeayn getting in a little 'hammer time'! She's flatening out a bottle top for our scrapbooking..... woo hoo, check out that cleveage!!!!

Yeah Baby!

We visited the local quilt shop...always a favorite thing for us to do. Sorry it's blurry.

Here we are doing our scrapping, it was sure a lot of fun, although it seemed to take forever to get set up, must have been those deer antlers that threw us off!!! Fun stuff, good times!

Finally, it was break time!!!

The girls totally loved Leeayn, for the first hour she was there they did nothing but show off for her, then she couldnt get rid of them!!!! I didnt think I was going to get them back!

Camp Keeneland

2006-08-04T19:16:00.000-07:00

When the temperatures hit 95 degrees....everyone wants to have a pool party! My niece, Anna and her friends, Sarah and Caitlin came over for the day to cool off with a swim and a movie. Anna is blonde, we had to explain you go off the board forward....not backward......poor girl!!!

Splish Splash!!

Here we go again!!!!!

Awwww, arent they cute!!!

Lights, Camera....Action!!!

Camp Keeneland Continues.....

2006-08-04T14:09:00.000-07:00

It was Camp Keeneland for Emily and Mitch this week. Kerri and Scott were off on a mini vacation to Florida. We continued the week with Emily having her friend, Kayla over for a swim, movie and an overnight. They had a lot of fun goofin off, here's a few shots of their outting. Sorry they're not in order, but I cant get the hang of this darn thing. Kayla was here monday and part of tuesday.

Here they are getting ready for their movie....arent they special???? Nothing like a mouth full of popcorn, huh?

Lovely new pool eyewear!!! They were a couple of goofballs for sure. Note that Emily has hers on upside down!!! Yes, she knew it. Always the rebel.

I had to have mitchel sit on my back to get this one, I kept bobbing up!!! They had a ball with the underwater camera, got lots of cute shots.

Wednesday we just hung out around the house, I needed a rest!! Thursday we headed out bright and early and went to breakfast then on to Burpee museum to see Jane the dinosaur. Mitch's favorite you know?!

YIKES!!!! It's getting me!!!!

Emily doing what comes natural.

Here we were trying to get one of those pouty looks she likes to do, but she kept laughing....she's so weird!!!

Mitch and a snake....
Mitch and Jane!!!!

confessions of a Grandma......

2006-07-25T19:48:00.000-07:00

If this is true confession time.....here i go, jumping in with both feet. Kerri, cover your eyes!!!

Growing up, we had an outhouse! Honest. I can still remember the grasshoppers when i'd walk out there.....i hate grasshoppers!!!

My older sister Kathy and I 'borrowed' my brothers car once, she was probably 15. Went up our road about a quarter mile.....hey that went good, lets do it again......Opps, where'd that pot hole come from....when we rolled into it, it threw us into the telephone pole! We got whomped for that one.

When I was emily's age, 13, my friends and I use to crawl under the fence at the drive in theater.

I hate to cook, i mean realllllly hate to cook.

When ever I really get into something....I get a little obsessed....like making 30 quilts at christmas time, cause i needed to do 'just one more' quilt!

We were never to go swimming in the gravel pit as kids.....we did, I cut my foot and had 23 stitches in it. We lied about were we were and didnt confess until I was 19, I was like 11 at the time.

I use to skip school with my friends (all guys) and they'd teach me to drive. Usually down the main road in town. I was short and couldnt reach the clutch, so i'd have to swing back and forth to reach the pedals. I'm surprised we werent killed!!!!

My stepdad wouldnt take me to get my license when I turned 16, so I had a friend, Howie, take me.....I said my teacher took me.

I sing at the top of my lungs in the car.....when i'm alone!

I've broken two windshields with my head......explains a lot, huh?

I broke one of those large crocks, put the pieces back and John bumped it and it fell apart....I let him think he broke it.....he's still pissed at me.

So you see, I'm not the perfect person you all thought I was!!!!! LOL But do you see why LaRelle and I get along so well?!?!?!! we bad!

Get your butt off the curb and get on board!!

2006-07-19T12:43:00.000-07:00

Poor LaRelle, she's been sitting on her butt for about four years now, just patiently waiting on the curb for us to show up someday and rescue her. Well her day finally came and she could finally get off the curb and hop on board the Motor Mansion! BTW, did you know you can literally die from sitting on your ass too long??? Just ask Leeayn, she'll tell ya!

Finally, her ride has come!!!

Allllll Aboard!!!!

Peek a Boo.....It's LaRelle!!!!!!

Next stop.....MNSSHP!!!!!! Woohoo!

A weekend with Mitch

2006-07-17T12:24:00.000-07:00

Not wanting to be left behind, I've decided to
join the blogger list! Monica's camping trip got me off dead center. Please excuse my sloppy page as I'm just learning.

We took an RV trip to Davenport, IA. We stayed at a small place there that's close to family and friends. It's a small campground, mainly an overnight place along the highway, but they had a pretty nice pool, so it works. We mostly hung around the campground.

For a kid that didnt want to go to our cousin Jan' s house, he sure had a lot of fun in the pool!!! My friend, Jack played a lot with mitch in the pool, and he ate it up. We mostly used the noodles as water rockets, splashing anyone we could. Lots of giggles from him on that one. Here Jack is getting ready to drop the raft on top of mitch, you can hardly see him when he's inside of it. He's such a tiny little thing!

Here I am with Mitch and some stranger in the background! Too many people there I didnt know....but the water was nice, so who cares! Jan's husband, Roger made pork lion on the grill, it was huge and man was it good.

You can see how loaded the pool was.....family and friends.

There were actually more than shows here too. People running all over the place. It was nice to get back to the camground and just hang out and chat. Thats the great thing about camping and RVing, just meeting lots of nice people and striking up a conversation. Judy had made me a chocolate mayonaise cake....OMG, it's the best. Needless to say the diet went out the window ....how could I pass that up!!!

Of course we took the dogs along, they did great too. They are pretty well use to being in the motor home.

So this was our weekend, short but sweet.