I Am Missing It

I am missing the Autumn season fun and I am really sad. Between work, working on the new house, and moving into the new house I am missing everything fun. I missed the county fair, the state fair, I have not made caramel apples or turkey chili. I have no fall decorations except at the shop and we are all "Falled up" here. Usually by now I have already made pumpkin pancakes and a few mini loaves of pumpkin bread. I cannot find any Oktoberfests around here. I am whining, I know but gosh darn this is my favorite time of the year. I will let it go. It is not like this is the last fall ever.

I will just have to make up for the loss at Christmas. I am pretty excited about the holidays this year. I will not have to travel 1800 miles to spend time with my family. I will not have three weeks off in the month of December either but work is different here and I am not nearly as stressed out. I know they are coming up to my house for Thanksgiving and maybe I can convince them to come up for Christmas too. It will be my first year home in a very long time so maybe my sister will let Santa come to my house. We shall see.

100th Post and I Bet Leaves are Fast Talkers

I slept at the house last night. On an air mattress because I was too tired to drive to my grandfather's. It is one of those thick comfy mattress but it was still uncomfortable. My bed has spoiled me.
What about this weather? Cold, warm, rain, sun, a little bit of everything. The leaves are really starting to fall from the trees but sadly there is no fantastic color display. In Northern VA I would be speechless for a week when the leaves were at full color. Bright orange, red and apricot trees were everywhere. I always thought they looked like the warm glow of lamps in a cozy window. When the leaves began to fall there was this amazing smell everywhere and they would whip around you as you walked down the street like small tornadoes. Even the most mature person is tempted try to catch a handful. I imagined the leaves saying "Oh hello! Happy Fall, always go out in style, I like your scarf, gotta go, in a rush, OK bye!" I bet Fall leaves are fast talkers. I just realized that this is my 100th post. Shoot, I was going to do something fancy. Oh well....

Blah Blah Blah

Here is a little bit of what is going on. Today I have sanded and painted two very large planter boxes that we will use for the plants at the Chickasaw Festival Meeting. It is a pretty big deal and we get to do all of the stage plants and silk arrangements. This place has been filled to the brim with large plants and it has been lovely. I am now working on a few more mums. I really enjoy my job. I think I have said that before.

I am working on the house and yesterday I even unpacked a few boxes in the kitchen. It was like shopping but I loved everything and it was within my budget. The day started out very cool and then in the late afternoon it became very warm and muggy so the house felt stuffy. After the sun went down I went out and sat on the porch. A cool night breeze and the faint smell of a fire in the distance made the porch a much better place to be. After about thirty minutes I realized that the only sound I heard were animals and an occasional passing car. No sirens, no planes, no helicopters. There was not the constant hum of the cars on 395. It was so peaceful.

Chicken Sauce and Vegetables

The town I live in is the Capitol of the Chickasaw Nation. The annual Chickasaw Festival is being held this week. It reminds me of a sweet moment when my son was three. My husband was Navy and was deployed to the Mediterranean for six months so we stayed with my parents during that time. I had told my son about the festival and we talked about the Native American culture and I explained that we would be going to the parade and to see all the exhibits the next day. I often videotaped my son and sent his father the tapes with him telling his father about the things we were doing. I was videotaping him and said "Tell daddy where we are going in the morning." my son replied in a cheerful voice "We are going to the chicken sauce and vegetables!!" He is now sixteen and I can remember that little phrase like it was yesterday.

Fall Decorations

I cannot find any of my fall decorations and it is making me so annoyed. I can picture the box that I packed them in. I have seen them since I got here, so where are they?
I looked back at the fall decor post from last year and it makes me so sad. I want to put the fall berry wreath up on my half finished house front door. I want to put out the "poison" candy jar. If you have seen my fall decorations could you buy them a bus ticket home? I will happily send you the money.
What a crazy five months it has been. I am ready for a little bit of boring. I appreciate my old apartment more now than ever. Knowing the location of nearly all my things was something I took for granted. I will enjoy finding a place for everything. I will put the seasonal items in neatly labeled boxes and smile every time I look at them. I will do all of this in what I call "future perfect world". I have a lot lined up in my "future perfect world". A lush tiny English type garden hidden in the back of my property, Fall dinners under my big Pecan tree on crisps nights and we will eat butternut squash soup out of pumpkins, an imperfect white picket fence surrounding the front yard with heirloom yellow (drought resistant) roses growing all over it. It all may not happen, but isn't it lovely to think it might?
Yesterday, I took off the ugly aluminum screen door and painted the front door before I remembered to take a picture. I keep doing that. How will you know how fantastic the house looks unless you see the before picture?

Introducing Mr. Weenie B.

Here he is all healthy and posing

Here is the sweety all sicko

It Just Happens

I am blogging along daily and everything is grand, blog ideas come at me like crazy and then I have some big change in my life and my brain just shuts down and goes into survival mode. This time has been of all things a puppy. Yes a little dachshund has entered my life. He found me, I swear.

I was driving back from a lovely afternoon of walking around Lowes (that would be a grand time to me these days, Starbucks and Lowes...Woot!) I am driving through a little town and this thing runs straight at my car and I can tell it has no sense at all. People let their dogs wander around here all the time and I never stop, but this time it was different. I stop in the middle of the highway and put on my flashers hoping I am not killed by a semi while trying to save this little beast. He runs under my car and I call him, "Puppy!, Puppy!" I scoop him up and set him in my passenger seat and drive to the side of the road. I see him and think, he is a darling dog someone has to be missing him. I go to the local convenience store and give them my name and number and they take his picture and then I leave...

I get to my town and begin to really look at him. He is a very sad creature. Skin and bones, covered in ticks and fleas, ear mites, uncut nails, and I bet he has worms (he had worms). I decide that he found me and that he needed a good home. My home, I guess. I am a dachshund person which makes everything even more weird. Is there a list for Dachshund puppies that name all of the people that might want them? Do they have some type of Ontstar that notified him that I would be driving in that exact location at that precise time? I wonder, but then I realize that he did not learn to fetch or sit when I met him so I think he might have lucked out or he had friends helping him out. I really have no idea. Anyway it goes, he is here to stay. I named him Weenie Beenie after a hot dog place near my old work. I call him Weenie B. pictures are soon to follow.

Remember The Rain Boots

It has not rained once since I got them. I think they are some crazy anti-rain thingy. I am really wanting to sport those babies around a little. Alas they have only sat here in the office mocking me. The other day the sky turned gray and I knew it would storm but it just passed over and the sun was out in a few hours.

Summer 2006 Family Memory

A sister and I took the kids on a summer vacation in the Virginia mountains. We went to a cute kid friendly resort and had a great time.


The last day we took the kids to Luray Caverns in Luray, VA. My kids are older so they enjoyed the caves but my four year old niece well the photos I took speak for themselves.

I did not have my camera that day, it was broke so I borrowed my sister's camera.

Obviously, my niece was not a fan of the tour

Beautiful Scenery

Terror

Just Amazing

Just Flipping Out

We kept on walking because there was only one way in and out so there was no way to leave even though she was freaking out.

My son offered to carry her after a while and she calmed down as soon as she got in his arms.

Imperial Moth

I found this moth yesterday in town. It was nearly dead so I took it home. They are not common to this area. I think this moth is so pretty, it has a wingspan of 4 1/4 inches.

I am taking pictures of it on it's back and then all of a sudden it tries to flip over and gets stuck like this. I think it looks like it is break dancing. Pardon my foot and my camera strap in the picture, but I just had to share it with you. (I need a pedicure)

Pink Saturday!

Happy Pink Saturday everyone!

I have had such a busy week and I am so happy it is the weekend. I am going to drive to Purcell this afternoon to have dinner with a long time friend. I have know her since I was 14!

Tell me what you have planned for the weekend. Someone asked me last week about the part of Oklahoma that I am located. The closest town I can tell you is Ardmore. So I guess I am South Central OK. Not too far from my native Texas!

Go over and say hello to Beverly and check out all the other pretty pink blogs this week. Sorry that I do not have any pink farm animals this week but stay tuned to Sunday's post I have the prettiest Imperial Moth pictures.

Friday's Five Photos

Photos I have taken over the years

Getting Ready For Homecoming

It is time to get ready for fall and the high school homecoming. I love homecoming, the bells, ribbons, sparkle and all that. I get really into it. I made all of my own mums when I was in school .
This was the display for the trinkets to choose from last year, I wanted to make something different.

I took an old picture frame and cut Styrofoam to fit inside and then covered it with red fabric

I then secured the Styrofoam to the frame by stapling ribbons across the back

I hid the back of the frame with fabric and then hung the frame from the ceiling with red tulle

Here is a look, I will show you more when everything is done.

These are my favorite mum trinkets, I love the way they sound when they blow in the wind and make a clinking sound. Is homecoming a big deal where you live?

Worth the Wait

I am so excited guys! This might not seem like much but I got new rainboots. I have been waiting and waiting because I just do that and I finally got THE boots I know I will love for a long time. They were seriously on sale, I am talking crazy cheap. I love the Lilly Pulizter vibe too. I took my friend's daughter to look for school clothes today and saw these and just about started to jump up and down screaming. I was THAT excitied.

I will use them for so many things like...

Helping my friends feed all of their beasts...

The cows

Dan (I love this picture of him)

The baby

He was very curious about my camera.

They also have two other horses.

There is Gary the Donkey.

Sometimes they have hogs and lambs.

My boots will be so handy for that and there is also

Gardening

Yes I will use them then too.

What other times can I use them?

Oh yes....

When it rains

The Lucky Rose

A friend owns a great store in our town called The Lucky Rose.

She allowed me to snap a few photos of all her cute things.

I want to be just like her when I grow up.