Perks....

So Mark was talking about football with one of his new co-workers yesterday. Mark told him about how they used to bring a tv to work on the day after Thanksgiving and hook their cable(for internet) up to it so they could watch the college games. The guy looked at Mark like he had two heads and said, "we don't work the day after Thanksgiving". HAHAHAHA!! WOOOOHOOOO!!

Then, later in the day, he came and asked Mark how much more paperwork he had left. Mark showed him and asked why, thinking they were going to go on a delivery or something. The guy said, "we like to close up shop at 4 on Fridays". And again I say, WOOOOOHOOOO! I like those kinds of perks.

In other news...

Mark and Ryan tried to go fishing last night but suffered a blow-out on one of the trailer tires. Luckily nobody or boats got hurt and they were only 3 miles from home when it happened. So, they drove to Gladewater Lake so the worms wouldn't go to waste. They did not see the bear but the girls and I had to go jump them off because the battery went dead on the "white jeep". Sigh. And now we're all back and the girls want to go to Hobby Lobby so I imagine we'll have a trip there and to Goodwill in a while.

So far my antibiotic has not kicked in. I still feel the same, can't hear, tired, etc. I'm so ready for this to end!

And finally, kitty pics. Still no names that I know of.


(baby boy on the hunt)


(baby girl under the couch)


(Prissy on guard)


(Sissy lounging in the bedroom)

A Working Weekend....

Actually, I started on this project earlier in the week with the sanding and painting but Mark and I hung it up this morning. We spent all day yesterday deciding on the perfect glass shades for it, we are both very pleased with our selection. This was the easiest hanging job we've ever done, it went fast with no hitches!


(light fixture from Goodwill: $10)


(spray paint from Lowes:$5, this is a satin finish and isn't nearly as reflective in person)







(glass shades from Lowes: $30~ lol, we are not using those kinds of bulbs, that was our tester bulb to make sure of the wiring)

Last night(saturday), Mark took Ryan and his friend Kyle to Lone Star Lake to fish. They'd just backed down the boat ramp when they noticed about a dozen boats suddenly headed for them from across the lake. Mark pulled up to let some get out and they figured out a storm was on the way. He called me to look on weather.com and I confirmed that a very big, very nasty storm was literally upon them!! They drove all the way home in it at about 35-40mph! Our lights flickered several times and the wind was just crazy. I am SO glad they didn't get out there earlier and risk getting caught on the water. It rained steady til after 1am and then again much of the late morning. They were disappointed so I agreed to "let" them try again tonight in exchange for some major honey-dos.

First, I cleaned off and sorted(repackaged) my fabric boxes on the 4x6ft metal shelf. Mark carried the boxes to the kitchen and the boys brought the shelf to the utility room. I'm not sure this will be its permanent location or what, but it frees up a whole lot of space in our bedroom! We had to move the smaller plastic shelf from behind the door(next to the washer) in order to have a place for the litterboxes. If the shelves stay in this room, we'll put a kitty door on so we can keep it closed. We may also move the freezer to the garage or a corner of the dining room. Or the plastic shelf might go to the garage, we haven't decided what yet.



Next, I started some pinto beans simmering, that will be a late supper for the guys. I'm debating making cornbread for them.

Then Mark and Ryan cleaned the coils on the back of the fridge and the floor underneath(no picture, it was GROSS!).

While they were doing that, I was able to do a little, long overdue, mantle decorating.



My mom did the dutch dolls. The candleholders were on 80% clearance at Hobby Lobby, aren't they cute? I'm not sure how well the pattern shows but they are kind of a paisley bandana pattern frosted kinda on the inside of the glass.



I'm on my way to the garage to spray paint my desk. It is a trial thing, a "free" fake wood desk from Mark's office, left by an ex-employee. If the paint works fine, if it doesn't that's fine too. I'm kinda hoping it does, at least mostly, because I'm typing this from the floor of my dining room and it is uncomfortable to say the least(a mosquito has bitten my forehead at least 4 times now)..***updated, that was a flop. Now I'm without a desk***

After painting I'm going to sort through the cabinets above the washer and dryer, there is a TON of junk up there destined for Goodwill(or the trash). The more I can get done this weekend, the more we can "not do" next weekend. Mark will be off Friday so it gives us an extra day to fart around. Hmmmm, maybe we'll finally paint the bedroom!! Wouldn't that be amazing! I'm betting we will!!

Suffice to say....

The Clark W. Griswold family has NOTHING on us. We are tuckered out to say the least and I feel like I'm still in the boat. Here are some lovely images from our latest camping endeavor(fiasco). We had a super time despite the set backs. Maybe I'll be able to talk about them someday.

This time we camped at Lake Bob Sandlin and we'll definitely be going back. This is a nice campground with clean facilities and large sites. Somehow I managed to miss the cemetery information so we didn't visit this time.

Around Camp:





We pulled into camp at approximately 9:40 on Friday night. It had rained so everything was pretty soaked. At this point I was ready to drive back home. Seriously. After setting up tents and blowing up air mattresses, we were in bed by midnight.

When we camp, my one request is that we get close enough for comfort to the bathrooms but not right next door. We pulled onto the loop to discover that the facilities were on the left of the road before the actual loop started so we turned right and took the first site. So, it was actually across the road from the bathrooms and down a few hundred feet. Yay! There is nothing I hate more while camping than to have to walk down the road a quarter mile to the bathrooms in the pitch dark(especially when some fellow campers killed a large copperhead in that same road-at night).



Instead of canned soft drinks, I bought two liter bottles. We rarely get soft drinks at home so this is a special treat for the kids(and Mark this time). These lasted much longer and didn't attract bees like cans do. I made Zen tea for myself.

We always pack plenty of good food. This time I made ranch dip with bacon bits to eat with chips and veggies. It ended up being the perfect condiment for our breakfast burritos on Sunday morning too. Our Saturday morning ham and pancakes worked out just fine too. I ended up bringing the dry mix in a zip bag and the milk in a small tupperware container and mixed it up in my tea pitcher(this was before I made tea obviously). We also had chili dogs, Chicken Noodle Stew(Ramen, mixed veggies and grilled chicken with spices), trail mix, homemade brownie muffins, and other snacks.



To keep from being bored, the girls brought their drawing stuff. It was hot in the tent so Sarah didn't stay there long. You'll notice the brownish blob near the entrance to the tent. This was the queen-sized air mattress, used only once before, that developed a leak(we can't find) and lost 90% of its air during the night. The second night it only lost 80% of the its air. Sigh. The good news is that we were quite comfortable with our thrifted pillow cases and sheets.





The kids enjoyed relaxing in their camp chairs.



Mark spent a lot of time at the boat doing various repairs and equipment overhauling. He lives for that kind of thing.



This was the spot I chose to practice a new craft and enjoy the wildlife and scenery. In a few days I'll reveal what I learned and hopefully show you a finished project! I also taught the girls how to do it so it isn't anything hard.



Saturday afternoon we went to the swimming area but didn't stay long, I also forgot my camera. The area consists of two concrete brick retaining walls with a sidewalk at the bottom(at water level) that's about 15 inches wide. The water is about 2 feet deep right off the bat. The lake bottom has the consistency of raw wet biscuit dough with small chunks of broken concrete mixed with it. For future reference, next time we'll pass on this experience.

On the Boat:





After we made our way through the dead trees(which I wanted to take home), we were captivated by this enchanting sunset.









Then it was time to get down to the business we'd come to do.

Last Two Words...

From Anet's wonderful project.
Volacious- apt or fit to fly
Maven- a person who has special knowledge or experience; an expert


Our wildlife sightings included volacious cormorants who nest in dead trees.





Mark is such a maven when it comes to all things to do with fishing. He rewired the lights on the boat trailer, restrung fishing reels, navigated across submerged trees, and backed the boat up at least a dozen times without batting an eye.

I'm BAaaack!!!

With pictures and stories but not together in this post unfortunately. I am slap worn out. We had a GREAT time camping, boating, hiking, and fishing, with a few minor(and a major) setbacks and/or irritations. I will attempt to describe the pictures below each of them.



Right off the bat Sarah and I spotted this little mama deer(can you see her? Smack dab in the center of the photo, clicking to enlarge it might help) with a fawn that couldn't have been more than 2 days old. I took this picture before we discovered the baby. It was a WEIRD trip for deer sightings, Atlanta State Park is known for having bazillions of them all over the place and these two were the only ones we saw(multiple sightings in the same area). Of course, having a mountain lion in the area might make them appear scarce. Early Friday morning, the girls(did I say there weren't going to be stories? oh well) and I decided to go on the park's "nature trail". See where the deer is? That is the "nature trail". As is this...



This was the most visible the trail was, ever.
We walked for 2 miles at least, finding the trail only by the colors sprayed on various tree trunks. One place we came to had a very steep, very tall hill to the right of the trail. It was devoid of any vegetation except a few scraggly pine trees, appearing to have been recently burned. As I glanced up to the top of the hill I saw a gold shape slip down to the right. It didn't look like a deer, it didn't spring or leap. Of course, I dismissed it as a deer, didn't want to frighten the girls, and I didn't know if big cats were in the area. Then I came across this strange dug up place that seemed very odd, again dismissing it as something unknown but harmless. I investigated online and found This, scroll down to "scrapes". I saw them in two different places on our trip, including at the bottom of the hill.



Amy had a good time even though she doesn't enjoy fishing. She liked playing in the water and going on the boat.



I'm hoping someone can identify this flower! We found them in a few places in the campground. The stems aren't all that pretty but the blooms sure get your attention.



We found this guy by the bathrooms, as we did many critters including tons of frogs and toads(not one picture though).



The tent pad was a little crowded.



At first, the kids spent a lot of time in the tent. Then they discovered the boat ramp was right down the hill from our site, and they could fish off the shore. The light blue bed in the back was mine, the girls shared the other one.



This is a picture of the back of our boat. The black metal bar between the motor and the trailer(hooks onto the barbell-shaped black area on the trailer) is called a Transom Saver and is used to keep the motor up so it won't be damaged while driving. It is used with a stretch cord to hold the motor even more steady.

After our boat outing Friday afternoon we were hooking everything back up and getting ready to head back to the campsite for dinner. Mark had set the transom saver and was reaching the drain plug(little gold ring on the backside of the boat, under the motor) to let the water out of the back of the boat. The bottom hook had slipped off the rubber area on the trailer, causing the motor to slam down on Mark's right hand. He immediately grabbed it and spun away from the boat. I made him show me and I thought we were headed for the ER for sure. It was wide open but not bleeding. Mark felt woozy and ended up fainting as I was trying to get him in the passenger seat. He was panicked about me having to back the boat up and drive it to the campsite(which I did with NO problems). After we got back, I doctored him up and fixed dinner. The cut, which appears very small in the photo(the end of it doesn't show up), is about 2 inches long. It never did bleed a lot, thank goodness.



The boys went fishing after breakfast this morning, despite the injury. The girls and I broke camp and had it ready(mostly) to pack up when they came back. Mark was still having trouble with the transom saver so we went to the boat ramp to see if repositioning the boat would help. After 10 or so tries, we determined that it would not. But, Mark had a brilliant idea and spent about 40 minutes adjusting the rails on the trailer, the ones that go under the boat. He fixed it so the boat sits higher in the trailer and now the transom saver fits with no problems at all. It is fixed in the photo above.

Ok, now it is 10pm and I'm about to fall over with tired. Night night.
After coming home today and unpacking all of our equipment, it has swollen up twice as big as you see here. He thinks he may go get it x-rayed on Monday.

We are still married!....

Must be true love if it survived chain link fence building. And we didn't kill any kids(in fact, they worked as hard as we did, almost). I can't begin to tell you how hard this was to do, and in the rain all day yesterday. We started Saturday morning, early, and didn't get finished til noon on Wednesday. If you ever get an estimate to have one put in and think its too much to pay, trust me it isn't.


(halfway around)


(Ryan and Mark pulling tension)


(hole in the side of pool, about 3 feet across- pool man came today and is gearing up to get started soon-yeah)



This morning during breakfast I noticed these beautiful spiderwebs on the hollies out front.







There were 16 of them!



I also snapped some pictures of these gorgeous flowers this morning. My mom tells me every year what they are and I always forget. Those are grape leaves surrounding the blooms(no relation).






We are headed to Atlanta State Park tomorrow for a few days of camping and boating. Will have some good pics I hope! The kids are geeked. Last time I camped at this place we had tornadoes, fallen trees, snakes, flooded tent, stolen fish and equipment and Mark got two tickets. It was NOT a good time. Of course none of that will happen this time though, will it? NO!

In a few weeks we plan to vist Caddo State Park and take the canoe. Not sure if we'll camp or not, they are known for alligators and snakes(and maybe even bigfoot).