Tag Archives: family

state of the fair…

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So the family and I are headed to the Arkansas State Fair today when the kids get out of school. I haven’t been to the fair in forever.

Get this, they’ve been talking all week about the new ‘on a stick’ foods available at this year’s fair.
Fried Dr. Pepper: estimated 820 Calories
Chocolate covered bacon (aka Pig Lickers) : 683 calories
And of course there are the standards:
Fried Twinkies: up to 700 calories depending on the size you order
Fried Snickers: 450 calories
Foot long corndogs (yum): 375 calories (winner!)
Why must we fry everything? Has anyone tried the Fried Soda/Choc covered bacon/Fried Twinks/or Fried Snickers? Can you tell me about it? (after the heart attack, I mean)

I’ll be honest, I’m tempted to try a Fried Twinkie. But I just don’t think I can do it. Why? Because I’m terrified I’ll like it and then where will I be? On a gurney being rushed into the ER with someone sitting on top of me breaking my ribs and blowing air into my lungs.

What do you guys think? Should I tempt fate and blow my diet by foraging into the fried food fabulousness of the fair? What do you think I should try?

the holiday

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For a recap of how we survived a near monsoon on Saturday, click the banner:
Fictionistas

‘Brother Joe’ and family came for a visit this weekend. We had a great time. We don’t see them often enough, honestly. They live in the Raliegh area, which is a 14 hour drive from here. And my niece plays very competitve soccer, so more often than not, they aren’t even home. they’re traveling from soccer pitch to soccer pitch watching my niece be awesome.

Friday was the 4th and we decided to spend that day down at the Rivermarket instead of going to the lake with everyone else.

Our visit downtown started off a little rocky because we had the kids with us. The only places that seemed to be open were Bar/Restaurants. Arkansas passed a law that states you can smoke indoors if you do not allow anyone under 21 into your establishment. Well, that’s all fine and good when other places are open. We were hungry and frankly, we need a place to eat quick, fast, and in a hurry. We finally found Gusano’s was opened…it’s a pizza place. My SIL and Niece aren’t big pizza eaters, but they had other things on the menu. The most important thing was that minors could eat there. The 2nd most important thing: they had beer available.

Guasano’s was ill-prepared for the 4th family crowd and only had 2 waitresses who were doing it all. I even joked about jumping behind the bar and slinging drinks. One of the waitresses looked at me with hope in her eyes…but I didn’t do it. Their management team should be smacked silly for their lack of prep.

The food was good, even if it did take longer than it should’ve. After lunch, we walked along the river, the kids got airbrushed tattoos and we visited the Clinton Presidential Libary. We left as a storm rolled in. (wish we would’ve had that luck on Saturday.)

That night, we were going to take the kids back to the river to see the fireworks, but they weren’t interested. So we left them to their own devices (I love having teens) and we adults grabbed a cab and headed back downtown…to Willy D’s, a dueling piano bar. Much fun was had that night. Maybe too much fun. Either way, it was another late night downtown and when I woke up on Saturday, I was hoarse from all the singing. Pictures were taken that night…but not by me. I’ll have to track those down though, cuz all photo evidence of that night must be pre-approved by me before posting. LOL

we are family!

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Had a great dinner last night. I fixed one of my favorite new dishes…and I spiced it up with some Tiger sauce. It was almost too spicy for a few folks. My bad.

The wine and conversation flowed and I finally had to call it a night about 11:00. I didn’t wanna wake up cranky for work today, so I headed to bed.

Where I promptly had a nightmare.

Don’t you hate it when you have bad dreams? This was so real that I woke up in a panic. My heart and mind were racing. It took me a few minutes to calm down and realize it was all a dream. Unfortunately, it took me even longer to get back to sleep.

It’s all good now.

I’m not sure if I’ll be blogging or not the rest of the weekend. Who knows? Sometimes I surprise myself. If you don’t see me around, I’ll be the sungoddess on Lake Ouachita.

won’t be long

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before Brother Joe and clan arrive. We’re having Salsa Chicken, wild rice, and salad.

And beer.

You know, I realized that even though I’m down a size since March, I’m now stagnant in my weightloss again. I’ve reverted back to some bad habit *koff* beer *koff* and I’ve stopped walking and going to the gym. I gotta get back on the wagon. So, after the 4th, I’m back on track. There will be no more very little partying. I can’t stop now!

I got a text from Grant. They’re having a blast at the Lake of the Ozarks. Can you imagine the havoc 20 or so hot British Soccer players are causing right about now? I bet there isn’t a cold bed in that county this week.

Those were the days…

thanks, y’all

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I really appreciate the love during yesterday’s slight meltdown.

I’m all better now. Promise. It was just bad news at a bad time and now it’s over. We all have shitty days sometimes.

My BIL and his family are going to be here today. (you’ll see him comment as ‘brother joe’ sometimes.) I’m excited. We haven’t seen them in two years. Unfortunately, my house is still a wreck after the British Invasion over the weekend. So, I’m having Fishdog put our slaves kids to work today. Hopefully they won’t be here til sometime tonight. Otherwise, they may rethink their decision to stay with us cuz the house is just this side of Zoo.

Do y’all have big plans for the weekend? We’re headed to the lake on the 5th–staying here for the 4th. Decided it would be better to stay away from the lake crowd on Friday and hit it Saturday. Probably will be just as crowded, but who cares. It’ll stil be fun.

With any luck, next week some of the lads from ‘Team Maumelle’ will be back to run a camp in Bryant. (my hometown) Hopefully we’ll get to see them. Justin said he thought he might get assigned to that camp, which would be awesome. Maybe I’ll get a few more ‘morning’ pictures. 🙂

I know Grant won’t be in Bryant–which is sad for us, but oh well. He’s going for a full-time job here in the states. If he gets it, then we’ll be seeing him more. That’ll be good for us. I miss him when he’s gone. He really is a part of our family.

So, tell me about your plans. What’s going on over the 4th? And to my Canadian friends, did you do anything fun yesterday? Happy Belated Canada Day!

the british are coming!

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Many of y’all will remember two years ago when we hosted our first set of soccer coaches. Grant and Simon swooped in and ate us out of house and home and stole our hearts in the process. We also ended up ‘adopting’ all the coaches by the end of the week. I’m still in touch with all the gang and a few more member of the self-proclaimed “Dream Team” that we met throughout the summer.

Last year, we had two other coaches. Del and Rob. Del and I exchange emails some. He’s in California and enjoying it tremendously.

Well, now that’s it’s summer and we’re no longer in Oxford, we’ve had to find a new soccer camp. As luck would have it, Maumelle hosts the Challenger Soccer camp every year, and apparently it’s one of the best ones around…So we signed the boys up. And we asked to host.

And guess who’s coming?

My wee lad Grant! I haven’t seen him in two years. We email quite a bit and he calls us every few weeks to check in, but we’re going to get to see him live and in person now! Yippee!!!

We spent the day yesterday with the Maumelle Soccer club doing a 3 v 3 tournament. What a warm and friendly group. Fishdog and I are going to let the boys try out for their classic soccer team. We really like the sense of community that club had. Everyone was so friendly and welcoming. It was a nice change to the Little Rock club, which I think has just grown too big to be friendly.

Anyway, today we’re tidying the house and getting it ready to be destroyed by the coaches. We have Grant, and 2 other lads from Manchester. I’m stoked. Should be a great (and very tiring) week.

For more pics and “lad” related blogs”

Hey Audrey! We’re gonna miss you!!!

weekend recap

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First of all, I’m over at Fictionistas today talking about dreams…

This weekend was a big bag of fun. Saturday, we went to the lake with another family and it was The. Perfect. Day. Honestly. The only way it could’ve possibly been any better would be if would’ve remembered to reapply my face sunscreen.

Here are some pics.

look ma, no hands! (Mel: putting the girls to work)

Um. What do I do now?

King and Queen Dork.

Hang on boys!

The girls at rest.
Too cool for school.

Nerd talk on a lake.

Captain Mom and her first mate.

Fishdog and Rader.

Captain Mom and the boat jester.

Sunday was a very productive day. I brainstormed another book with Maria and wrote the synopsis. And today I’ve written 7 more pages on it! I’m totally into my new characters. This is such a fun story. Of course, all my stories are fun…I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Did you have a good weekend? What did you do?

recapping my weekend

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Luau pictures are 2 posts below. We had about 50 people and kidlets overall. I was a bad photog and forgot to start taking pictures until about 4 hours in. I’ll never be a paparazzi.

Sunday we woke in a haze. It was hot, humid and our house looked like a Frat Bomb had exploded in it. And we’d even straightened up some the night before. We cleaned a little but mostly we just lounged around then took Ian to Wild River Country and Rader to see Indiana Jones. (Okay, is there anyone out there who DIDN’T see IJ this weekend?) Fun movie. Definitely not the best of the series, but totally entertaining.

Monday we finally decided to head up to the lake. I took loads of pictures. It was a gorgeous day but the water was just too cold for my liking! We had a great time soaking up the sun and relaxing.

The house still isn’t back to normal but honestly, I don’t care. LOL It is going to have to wait.













hello moto…

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Don’t ask me why that is my blog title this morning. It just is.

I woke around 4:30 to a lovely rain shower. A nice change from the thunderstorms we’ve had lately. After I drifted back to sleep, I had some weird dreams and finally made myself get out of bed and go buy groceries.

I love grocery shopping early on Sundays. Most often the only other people there are the ones who woke to realize they had no coffee in the house, or the ones who are just getting in from their night out.

Today, however, that was not the case. It wasn’t crowded, but there were too many ‘normal’ shoppers there. What were they thinking doing their regular shopping on MY shopping day? Didn’t they get the memo?

Imagine my disgust when the checkout line was 4 deep and the cute little oriental lady was the only checker. “You. Go self-scan.” She points and directs me and this other lady. “No more checkers. You go self-scan.”

Dude, I have a basket full of groceries. There is no self-scan big enough for my load. The lady in front of me refuses. Finally I say, “Fine. I’ll self-scan.”

I don’t have a problem with self-check out. I actually prefer it…but I had a ton of groceries. And of course, the self-scan line backed up with 5 people and their two items each, all giving me the stink-eye.

“Hey. Not my idea. Was sent over here.”

They all look at me like, whatever.

But I finish self-scan and realize that I still beat the lady over on aisle 4. Haha.

Ian gets home today from his 3 day trip in DC. We heard from him a couple of times. Yesterday he said he only got about 30 mins of sleep the night before. Um. Wah? He should sleep well tonight. In honor of his return, we’re having ribs, baked potatoes, and salad. Jealous much?

happy momma’s day

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For Mother’s Day, I plan to continue cleaning my house then watch the Season Finale of Survivor in peace. I may make the family watch it with me. Rader likes Survivor, so he’ll watch. Either way, that’s what I want.

I took a quiz this morning to find out who my inner rock chick is. Heh.


You Are Ani Difranco!


Honest, real, and well liked.

You’re not limited by any boundaries.

“And you can call me crazy

But I think you’re as lazy as white paint on the wall”

Who’s yours?

Ian had confirmation last night. We were almost blown away by a tornado, but we survived. I have no idea if the sirens went off–the church was quite loud. It was a bilingual service and we had 65 kids to confirm, so it was a very long service. Thankfully, it wasn’t the 3 hours we were told it would be. I think they told us to prepare for 3 hours so that when the service was ‘only’ 2 hours long, we’d be grateful.

I’ll post pictures when I can find my camera cord. Sigh.