October is...

Birth Flower - Marigold
Birthstone - Opal


Breast Cancer Awareness Month
National Apple Month
National Caramel Month isn't that handy how apples and caramel go together?
National Cookie Month
National Pasta Month
National Pickled Peppers Month
National Pizza Month I know someone who will bee happy about this!
National Pork Month
National Pretzel Month
National Seafood Month

October 2 World Habitat Day
October 4 National Taco Day I'm in!
October 5 National Apple Betty Day
October 6 National Noodle Day
October 9 National Dessert Day
October 10 National Children's Day I think children have way too many days dedicated to them.
October 10 National Angel Food Cake Day would it be bad to eat a whole one by myself?
October 11 National Sausage Pizza Day
October 13 National Peanut Festival Did Jimmy have something to do with this??
October 13 National Pumpkin Festival coincidence? I think not
October 15 National Mushroom Day
October 16 Sweetest Day
October 16 National Boss's Day I only had one boss that actually deserved his own day.
October 17 National Pasta Day
October 18 National Chocolate Cupcake Day
October 20 National Brandied Fruit Day
October 22 National Nut Day I like how fruit day and nut day happen in the same month
October 23 National Boston Cream Pie Day
October 23 National Mole Day are you kidding me? Is it be kind to a mole day or go ahead and kill one day?
October 24 National Bologna Day ewwwww
October 24 International Forgiveness Day yeah, that's gonna happen
October 24 United Nations Day
October 28 National Chocolate Day
October 27 National Music Day
October 29 National Oatmeal Day
October 30 National Candy Corn Day HOOORAY
October 31 Halloween!

Hot and cold

I know the west coast is suffering a major heat wave right now, but here in my hometown it's down right chilly out! 48 when I woke up yesterday morning. Today's high is 75 but come Sunday, it 'might' make it up to 60.

Yesterday I got pre-sale tickets to Lord of the Dance ~ 2nd row center! Woohoo!! It's not until March though. Can't wait...soooo much better than River Dance.

This weekend it the guitarist concert. It's being billed as Guitar Masters. Eric Johnson, Andy McKee and Peppino D'Agostino. Bill is really looking forward to it.

Aaaaand, we can go to the range this weekend! Yep, we both have our gun license now. I was kind of excited when mine came. I'm now an officially licensed gun owner...I can carry a gun...whoa...I'm a bad ass!!!!! hahahahahahahahaha

The last unusual thing I'm going to do this weekend is clean my sinuses. I bought a neti pot. Since I am a year round allergy sufferer and tons of people swear by the neti pot, I'm gonna give it a try. I'm a little nervous. I'll let you know what I think about it though.

Wild Hogs re-cap

The wild hogs road trip was sort of a bust this year. They had to change the dates several times and after the initial planning, couldn't decide where to go. They ended up going back to the Smoky Mountains. They left Saturday morning at 6:30 and arrived about 3:00 so they made pretty good time ~ it's about 400 miles.
Sunday, it rained all day so they were stuck inside. Monday, it rained all day but they went out anyway. Six hours of riding...in the rain. They were pretty miserable by the time they go back to the hotel. Tuesday was cool and overcast but at least it didn't rain! They got about 200 miles in. Today, they are headed home. I guess it can't be great every year and I bet next time they have a plan B.

TGIF!!

Woohoo!

Tomorrow morning the guys leave for their ride at 6:00AM and will be back on Wednesday.

Tomorrow morning I will be free of marital responsibilities. I can eat what I want, when I want. I can watch what I want, when I want. I can listen to whatever music I feel like. OK, YES, I'll miss him. He's my buddy. But sometimes less responsibility is really, really great!! I have too many things I want to do so I guess I'll pick the ones that seem like the most fun :-)

Saturday is the Art Festival and it's free museum day. (go to http://microsite.smithsonianmag.com/museumday/ ) I got free tickets to the Miniature House Museum. It's going to be a beautiful day out too.

I was thinking about raking up some leaves in the front, but since Bill saw the big snake out there I don't want to be startled by myself. I mean, it's not poisonous but still. I don't want to be all freaked out without my buddy. So I already scratched that off my list. And just let me say, while we're on the subject, I love nature and all God's creatures ~ but do they all have to hang out at our house? Moles, squirrels, chipmunks, woodchucks, foxes, snakes, freaky bugs. Dear God, maybe next year we could just have birds and butterflies?

I want to paint a skull on the wall in the garage. One of those Day of the Dead skulls. Bill loves those. You know me, I love to color so one of those would bee lots of fun.

I would also like to paint my own tote bag...and there's quilling to do...and...

It's going to be a great weekend!

mmm mmm!

In honor of the first day of Autumn, someone here at work brought in some Candy Kisses;

PUMPKIN SPICE

CANDY CORN

CARAMEL APPLE

All of them are incredibly sweet. Whoa! But I liked the pumpkin the best.

It's here, it's here

Happy Fall Y'all !!

The Earth Dosen't Care...

What an interesting article in Newsweek.

http://www.newsweek.com/2010/09/12/george-will-earth-doesn-t-care-what-is-done-to-it.html?gt1=43002

I hear you saying, hmmmm, where is Al when you need him?

Mr. Cranky Pants

Woooweee! I had no idea that not eating for a day could turn you into such a grump! Dang.
You know, my husband still eats like a teenage boy. How he manages to stay so slim is beyond me. As a matter of fact, it's really irritating. How can you eat the equivalent of 5 meals a day and not look like a whale?!

Anywho...he's having his first colonoscopy today, so he couldn't eat all day yesterday. Wow! When I got home, his evil twin had taken up residence in our house. Throwing things around and filled with hateful, mean, dirty looks. I almost ran for the hills! But then my medicated self prevailed and my patience came back to me ;-)

I promised him anything he wanted for dinner tonight. My guess is that he'll take it easy until the weekend gets here. He'll be working on the AC most of the weekend. It's been so nice out that I told him he could skip it if he wanted too. I thought I would be miserable and a big baby but it really hasn't been bad at all. Still, I'll make myself scarce tomorrow. I bought a cow hide to hang on the wall so I need to find some hooks to hang it up. And I think I'll go fill the truck up with dirt and go over to Moms. She needs it so she plant some new grass. She really likes playing in the dirt.

One more week till Autumn!!!!

Who chose your vacuum cleaner?

In the 21 years that we've been married, we've been through 4 vacuum cleaners.
The first one already belonged to my other half. When it puttered out, I picked the next one. I loved that vacuum. It was light, easy to use, easy to empty, had a super long cord and only had a couple attachments. That one lasted 8 years. Pretty good for a family of 4 and a dog.

I was sad when it died. So I'm gettin ready to head out in search of the next great vacuum when the man pipes up and says he wants to go. That's fine, I don't mind his company. I had NO idea however, that he wanted to go because he wanted to choose the next vacuum! All I kept thinking was...why do you care what the vacuum looks like or has? You don't even use the damn thing! Seriously? I mean, his opinion counts but c'mon! In 21 years he's probably vacuumed the house a couple dozen times at best. Humph.

Anyway, he picked it...I hated it. It was heavy and complicated to empty and had too many filters on it to clean out. So every time I had to empty it, I asked Bill to do it. It didn't take him too long to figure out that I knew more about vacuums than he did. After a couple years, I started sucking up everything, in hopes of its demise. Rocks, nails, tacks, socks, big dead bugs on the porch, balls of hair from my brush. I even went out in the yard one day and sucked up mulch and dirt! Finally, when we remodeled the kitchen, I used it to suck up all the drywall dust :-) Yup, that did it!!! Hooray! I was so happy.

Our next trip to buy a vacuum was more balanced. I still didn't get the one I wanted but at least that one was a compromise on both our parts. I was still thinking though, why does it matter to YOU. It was an OK vacuum and the best part was the retractable cord. It only lasted a year though. I was mad because it was expensive. Why is everything made to be replaced? Grrrr.

The vacuum we have now is perfectly fine. (because I picked it) Super light, only a couple attachments, works really great and only cost $40 at Walmart. Bill is even using it more!

I brought all of that up because I read an article not too long ago that said men are the primary vacuum picker outers in the family and wasn't that silly because typically men don't vacuum.
So I forgave the man in my house ~ turns out, he's just normal when it comes to vacuums.

Monday, monday...

blah.

WHY do some migraines last for days? Ugh. What is wrong with my brain?!?!?!?!

I really love our community. I know we are a real city now, but I sure like living in the 'old' part. It's cool to have a Main Street that things actually happen on. Like the old car show this past weekend. Main Street is closed for a mile or so and there were hundreds of old cars lined up both sides of the street. I'm always surprised how many people turn out for Main Street happenings.

In a couple weeks, they'll close it again so we can have an International Art Festival. I don't know what makes it international though. Perhaps it's the entertainment? It's not the art for sure. But it's another one of those local events that draws big crowds.

Pretty soon, Main Street will be adorned with big bushels of Mums and pumpkins and scarecrows. Neat.

I got the schedule for the symphony last week...Vivaldi Four Seasons is on the calendar! Yessssssssss. And something by Bach that Bill wants to go to. It's hard to pass up at $15 a ticket!

It's kind of warm out today but the rest of the week looks like it's going to bee great out! Which is a relief, since the AC is out again. Rats! Thank heavens for a husband who can fix things :-)

Tomorrow

Tomorrow is September 11th;

he·ro
[heer-oh] –noun,
1. a man of distinguished courage or ability, admired for his brave deeds and noble qualities.

cour·age
[kur-ij,] –noun
1. the quality of mind or spirit that enables a person to face difficulty, danger, pain, etc., without fear; bravery.

pro·tect
[pruh-tekt] –verb
1. to defend or guard from attack, invasion, loss, annoyance, insult, etc.; cover or shield from injury or danger.

thank·ful 
[thangk-fuhl] Show IPA –adjective
1. feeling or expressing gratitude; appreciative.

If you see a police officer, fire fighter or any member of the military, say thank-you.

Geesh!

A week ago today, we were walking around downtown Nashville.

WHERE does the time go????? Ugh

Some weeks just go by so fast that it makes me feel like Rip Van Winkle.
I really hate that.

*sigh*

good stuff

Let's start with the final Brooks and Dunn concert ~ ever.

It was really great! Everything about it, except the end. *sigh* It was the first concert I've ever attended that didn't include a mad rush to leave at the end. It was so odd. Everyone just kind of hung out for a while. So hard to believe they're done. But I hear that Ronnie Dunn has a new CD coming out at the end of the year! Hooray!

But who the hell was this guy??
We saw a lot of different things this time around. Like this;

See those dogs, sitting on that bike? Look closer;

No, that's not a costume. The owner really did let their hair grow out and bleach it. They were SO well behaved though. I hope they are well loved too.

Then we went to The Hermitage ~ home of Andrew Jackson.

This is where he's buried, next to his beloved Rachel

And this is where Alfred is buried, right outside of the fence from the pres and his beloved.
Apparently, Alfred was a good and trusted 'servant'

We even went to an art museum. It was a nice long weekend and it's always good to get out of town.

Thanks for watching the girls Mom!!

They were very clingy today. Mom said Bud kept looking for them. Awwwwww. It's cuz he looooooves Greta.

too funny not to share...

"Men may have their say but women get their way"

Yep, uh huh, that's right!


.

too much stuff?

Well, I have to admit that I'm a fan of Farmville. I love Farmville. I love waiting to see what new things will be available in the marketplace :-) I love deciding which crops will bring in the most money. Right now you can buy barns to store your things in. For instance, I have a whole carnival, with games and rides and a big tent. But Halloween is coming and I don't want to sell my carnival things off. Instead, I'll store them in the barn. Problem is, the barn only holds about 20 items and I don't want to clutter up my farm with a lot of barns. A couple weeks ago, Farmville came out with a storage cellar. You can store 500 ITEMS in it!! Yesssssss! I was so excited I had to tell the man. Do you know what he said???? "Do you mean to tell me that even in a virtual reality game, you have so much stuff you've run out of room for it?" I hung my head in shame (but smiled wickedly when he wasn't looking!). Sometimes he really makes me laugh my fool head off.

Tonight we are taking the girls for their first sleep over at Grams. Hang in there Mom! We'll be home Sunday.

Really looking forward to the weekend away and the last Brooks and Dunn concert ever. sniff sniff.

ttfn :-)

September is...

National Chicken Month
National Honey Month bzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
National Mushroom Month
National Potato Month
National Rice Month

September Flower - Aster
September Birthstone - Sapphire

September 3 National Welsh Rarebit Day - go ahead, look it up. I did.
Septmeber 4 Teachers Day
September 5 National Cheese Pizza Day
September 6 Labor Day
September 8 National Date-Nut Bread Day
September 11 Patriot Day - say thank you
September 11 National Hot Cross Bun Day
September 12 National Chocolate Milkshake Day
September 12 Grandparent Day -grandparents are the best!
September 14 National Cream-Filled Donut Day
September 15 National Creme de Menthe Day
September 16 National Cinnamon-Raisin Bread Day
September 16 Mexico-Independence Day
September 17 National Apple Dumpling Day
September 17 Citizenship Day
September 18 National Play-Dough Day -play dough has a day?
September 18 Thank You Day -I don't know, it's like telling you to have good manners
September 19 National Butterscotch Pudding Day
September 19 POW/MIA Recognition Day
September 20 National Punch Day - umm, to drink or to do?
September 21 National Pecan Cookie Day
September 22 National White Chocolate Day
September 25 One Hit Wonder Day
September 26 National Pancake Day
September 28 National Strawberry Cream Pie Day
September 30 National Mulled Cider Day