We are still waiting, we found the blogger but.....

NO New blogs from her. So mystery blogger must strike again. Come on folks lets get her back...

Claim it or not?

This is the mystery blogger again.

Ok off the new grandson subject this time.

I had a sweet little girl rear-end me tonight. Fortunately no one was hurt, just the bumpers, and her pride.

So I would like the opinion of people about claiming it on insurance and get it fixed. She is fully covered by the way.

OK she is not back, but here r more pics of Teddy

and one happy family

I have found the Lost Blogger

One happy grandmother. or is it one happy Blogger. Can anyone verify either?

This dude needs to shave before hugging the little one.

The Grandson has arrived!

Teddy has arrived.

At 11:54 a.m. on May 30, 2007, the 7lb 12oz, 21.5 inch bouncing baby boy was born.

Now maybe the lost blogger will have enough pictures and stories to tell. Let's hope so.

Where in the World is the Real Blogger?”

OK, the blogger is still not blogging, so this Ghost Writer has to post another, “Where in the World is the Real Blogger?”

So. The owner of this Blog has not found her way out of “I DON’T HAVE TIME” land.

Let try to help her find her way back.

A searching game. A question game. After all the blog title is “This is my Question”
She can't stand un-answered questions. this will bug the crap out of her.

Let’s ask questions to her about why she has not returned.

Here I go!

You have had time to plant new flowers out side.
Why did you find time to do that and not create a new blog?

You have time to go shoe shopping.
Why did you find time to do that and not create a new blog?

You have time to stop by Wal-Mart ( until 09:30 at night )
Why did you find time to do that and not create a new blog?

I retire for the night at around 09:00. What do you do until 02:00 in the morning?
Why did you not find the time to create a new blog?

And by the way, I know she has visited her blog, I can see the link to her blog in the History on her machine.

Ok Your turn, go ahead ask the missing blogger some questions.

Thanks, The Mystery Writer

Still looking!

Ok I think I found the missing blogger. She is somewhere in the house. I know this because the phone rings and someone answers it. I pick up the other phone and sure enough, she is on the phone.
So I go upstairs to see if she is there. No. I come downstairs to the basement she is not there. Where is she? I missed that opportunity. She’s missing again. Wait I see the grass is newly mowed. Ah Ha She is outside. I see new flowers in the ground. Ok im getting close. I go around the corner, and I hear the phone ring, and someone answers the phone. I pick up the other phone and she is on the phone. Well here I go again. I caught her coming out the house to finish the planting of new flowers.

I begin to ask her where has she been for so ….. and she pauses me and says, what do you want, “I don’t Have Time” AH HA She has been in “I DON’T HAVE TIME WORLD” and off she goes, whizzing by me. I lost her again.

Later on, It’s Monday and Dancing with the Stars is on so I know I will see her and be able to talk to her about things, She sat down to watch the show and promptly fell asleep. OK no talking tonight. She wakes up and begins.

“Here’s my question to you.” OH Boy here it comes. She gonna ask me “What did I miss?” Now tell me, Am I watchin “Dancing with the Stars” NO! It is on just in case she wakes up. She asks me “ What did I miss?” told ya. Well this couple was danci… wait, What Couple? She asks, I don’t know? Well are’nt you watching the show? NO. it’s on cause if I change the channel and you wake up, well you know the rest.. She then asks. “Why did you let me fall asleep? Dear, I tried to wake you about 5 times…
Question after question after Question. That is her blog name, right? Oh well

I went to bed, she came to bed around 02:30 AM. She had fallen asleep again. But, I think I found the missing blogger. She is somewhere in the house. I know this because the phone rings and someone answers it. I pick up the other phone and sure enough, she is on the phone.

Where in the World is "This is my Question"?

Has anybody seen the illusive “This is My Question” I have heard someone has seen her in Texas. She has been gone so long or will have been missing long enough to become a Grandmother. I believe this house is haunted, cause I think I see her whizzing thru every now and then. Maybe she will fly through long enough to enjoy the next OBB (Cinco De OBB) I know she has been around here, I see the soaking wet books on the edge of the bath tub. And last weekend we had about 40 women in the house, I swear one of them was her. IF anyone has seen her, please tell her that her Blog reading community is missing her and are waiting for her wit and humor. Please come home.

A NEW BABY!

So my husband has made me feel really guilty that I haven't blogged in a while. Time has really gone by quick. I do have a lot to blog about...
Mainly, that we are going to be GRANDPARENTS! This really is a wonderful, momentous occassion and I really can't believe it has taken me so long mention it on this blog. I think I was a little intimidated because, in my mind, I thought it should be some witty, entertaining blog.
I finally decided that I don't do witty, and I don't usually do entertaining so I should just dive in and go with it!!
The ultrasound says:It's an OBB!
Owens BABY BOY!
I am really excited about that but one small part of my brain says," Still outnumbered by the male gender!"
The more important part is that it looks like all is going well.
It was probably a good thing that I didn't know the sex of the baby before Christmas because I MIGHT have gotten carried away with the gifts.
Ok will write more soon but have a dinner engagement and need to run.
YEAH BABY!

Office Christmas Party

First off, I have to say: the daughter-in-law gets big bonus points for coming to her mother-in-law's Christmas party for the coworkers. She hadn't met many of them prior to the party, and she was the "lone younger generation represenative."
( One of the husbands commented that this is totally an "estrogen party!)
Anyway, I had the girls that I work with over for my 2nd Annual White House Christmas Show viewing party on HGTV this past weekend.
For those of you that have never watched this 1 hour extravaganza about the White House being decorated for Christmas, I highly recommend it. (Well, only if you are female and get into that kind of thing, but it truly is interesting.)
Last year when I issued the invitation to "come watch TV with me", I had a few invitees thinking "What in the world?..but maybe there will be good food there..." (The husband made lasgane and it was pretty darned good-I can say that since I didn't make it!)
The show is really interesting because every year the First Lady picks a Christmas theme and has the White House decorated in that theme. You get a background view of the preparations (which are massive!) and you get to see the "reveal", when all is done.
The first year that I had the girls from work over to "watch TV", I think everyone was surprised that they enjoyed the show.
I decided to make it a tradition because I certainly enjoyed having my coworkers over for a little Christmas cheer and I'm a big fan of the "history" part regarding the White House.
Getting ready for a Christmas party is always alot of work, but I work much better under a dead line and that helps me get decorated in a timely fashion.
I am always amazed at the amount of decorations they use at the White House and by the fact that they only take 3 days to get it all done. I guess having a lot of volunteers makes a big difference!
One of my friends was a little appalled at the expense of the decorations each year, but we decided that maybe it provides some work for some folks. We also questioned what they end up doing with the decorations once Christmas is over.
Anyway, after the fact, I realize that massive cleaning of the house prior to a party, worry about getting all the Christmas decorations up, and getting everything ready to eat should not be such a big deal...the most important part of the party is having great friends, family and a wonderful daughter-in-law to share this holiday time with.
We sometimes get so involved with the small details of getting ready for Christmas that we forget the really important things.
I'm thankful for all my family and friends and hope everyone has a great Christmas this year!

Decorating season

I can't believe that it is almost December and we are already into the Christmas season.
Thanksgiving was great. We had two celebrations over the last couple of weeks...one with my mom and all the 3 guys and one on Thanksgiving Day. It was really nice to have all the boys take a weekend to get together away from our normal weekend routines. (laundry, cleaning etc.) The only problem was that the weekend went by way to quick, and before you know it you're back into the work routine again.
There is just no way to leave the Thanksgiving table without eating too much. We always end up with tons of left-overs and since the guys are splitting time with their in-laws and girlfriends, they didn't eat as many leftovers as they normally do. There is only so much turkey a person can eat !
I spent the rest of the Thanksgiving weekend starting to put up Christmas stuff. That is a real love/hate kind of job. I love when the house and trees are all decorated because it makes everything look so festive but I hate putting the stuff up and taking it back down when all is done.
At the Thanksgiving meal, we discussed having houses built with special doors that store the decorated trees, and all it would take is a push of a button to mechanically open the wall and voila! ....A Fully Decorated Tree moves into place!
It is amazing to me that more and more folks are putting up Christmas decorations weeks before Thanksgiving. One of my friends started the day after Halloween!
When we were last in WV, there was a house completely decorated with a ton of outdoor lights.
I was commenting that it was pretty early in the decorating season to already have that many lights up. Then the thought jumped into my head that maybe all they had to do was flip the light switch...they could have been one of those year-round-lights-up-kinda-folks! (or tree-up-all-year-kind of folks! That's right...you know who you are ...newlyweds are allowed idiosyncrasies and it really was a nice conversation starter!)
Sometimes when I have all the decorations strung all over the house and it looks like a bomb went off...I can really appreciate those year-round-decorators...after all there is only so much time and I want to enjoy those decorations while I can!

Greenbriar Story

While watching one of my favorite shows recently, specifically Sunday Morning with Charles Osgood, one of the stories was particularly interesting. It was the Dorothy Draper the Designer story.

In the Dorothy Draper story, they mentioned that she had redesigned the Greenbriar Hotel in good 'ole WV. That brought back some interesting fun memories for me because The Greenbriar is where my husband and I spent the first part of our honeymoon.

We were only 18 and 21 years old when we got married and basically had minimal travel/hotel experience between us. We were given a three night honeymoon at the Greenbriar as a wedding present from my parents. We arrived late and the valet directed us to a cottage that was separate from the main part of the hotel. (In hindsight, this was probably a very good thing because it was not as lavishly decorated and was not as “busy” as the rest of the hotel. The cottage had a very nice sitting room with a fireplace and front porch. The cottage type setting worked pretty well for us.)

When we walked into this little cottage, the first thing the husband said after he looked around was, “I’m going to kill your father!” This was said because there was not a double bed in the room but TWIN BEDS! He was less than pleased that he had twin beds on his HONEYMOON! (In my Dad’s defense, we later learned that he had no idea that all the cottages only had twin beds. The husband still talks about how his father-in-law “really got me on my honeymoon.”)

Well, being the young, industrious, honeymoon couple that we were, we moved the beds together. It really did become quite humorous that for two nights, we would move the twin beds together, and then every morning when we came back to our room after the maid had cleaned up, the twin beds would be separated again. This provided a good deal of conversation between my husband and I. Finally, on the third night, the maid actually made the beds together and we had a good laugh about that when we saw them together!

Anyway, I digress…The show about Dorothy Draper was pretty interesting because she was the “Martha Stewart” of her time. She had a well known decorating style and was pretty original, both for her time then and even by today’s standards. They mentioned in the show that the Greenbriar recently had a “Dorothy Draper weekend.” I thought this was interesting, but I really enjoyed noticing that almost all the members at the lecture were the “well to do, draped in jewelry, even white glove wearing, older set.” (There were not many men at that lecture that I could see.)

When they were showing the pictures of the interior of the Greenbriar that are so lavishly decorated, it reminded me that my first impression when my husband and I walked into the main lobby was: “We are definitely out of our league here!” We were just so very young when we got married and pretty darned naïve.

There are two memories from our stay at the Greenbriar, (other that the twin bed situation) that were also memorable:

The first goes along with how naïve my husband and I both were. They have a fabulous, lavish dining room (decorated by Dorothy Draper, I might add) at the Greenbriar, with a world renowned chef school.
The first night that we dined in the dining room, we were given a complimentary bottle of wine. Now, neither one of us are drinkers and therefore, we had never had the experience of the ritual of wine tasting. We were just barely legal to drink.
The waiter prepared the bottle of wine with great ceremony, even down to the classic white towel over the arm move. He showed the vintage to the husband and of course we just stared at him. He continued to proceed through the ritual and handed the husband the small sip to taste for approval. My husband just looked at him, without a clue, and the waiter calmly leaned down and whispered in his ear, ever so unobtrusively, and said, “You need to taste it and nod if it meets your approval.” That was the quickest taste and nod you ever want to see. The husband could have been tasting vinegar, but that nod was coming, regardless! We do laugh about that now, but at the time, we just didn’t have a clue. I think we gave that waiter a few good laughs during that dinner!

The second funny incident was when we were taking a horse drawn carriage ride around the grounds. There happened to be this older lady and her husband riding with us. She was dripping in jewels and designer clothing and was looking a little snobbishly at my very plain dress. ( I thought I looked beautiful in that dress, even if it was homemade. Don’t judge me harshly because I had no clue ...I was young, in love, and on my honeymoon, so I didn't really care what I was wearing!)

Anyway, being the gregarious, outgoing people that we are, we engaged this couple in small talk. (I don’t think they were all that enthusiastic about our conversation, but since it was a confined space and they really couldn’t get away, they had little choice but to respond.) The husband and I had been discussing what would be appropriate to wear to the “high tea” that is a daily tradition at the Greenbriar. I leaned over to the lady and admitted that I had never been to a high tea before. Showing no pride, I flat out asked what might be appropriate dress for high tea and what do they actually do at high tea? She got this opened mouthed, embarrassed look on her face and quietly said in a mumble that she wasn’t sure because she has never been to high tea either. I was pretty surprised by this because she certainly had been coming off as the well cultured, “I’m much more cultured than you” kind of person. The subject was quickly dropped, but I can still remember thinking that the lady wasn’t too happy that we “exposed her”, so to speak. We never made it to the “high tea” during our stay, which was just as well, because I don’t think the husband is the “high tea” type!

Anyway, the husband and I have talked about scheduling a stay at the Greenbriar again. We have never been back since the honeymoon. We drive by it everytime we drive home to WV to visit the family.

If we ever do make it back, I know I will appreciate the whole experience and the decorating much more now that I know a little bit about the Dorothy Draper history.

One thing is for sure, the second half of our honeymoon was worlds away from the Greenbriar and the Dorothy Draper decorating experience...we went camping!

One month and no new blog

So my husband pointed out to me the other day that it had been a whole month since I wrote anything on my blog. I was truly surprised about that because it doesn't seem like it has been that long.
Probably because I have been writing on a couple of drafts and just can't seem to get them done.
Late night is my favorite writing time but...
Sleep vs writing??????
I don't think I need to do a quiz for you to figure out that Sleep has been winning.

Since I last wrote I have done quite a few things to keep me away from the blog:
1. Entertained some new friends that were visiting from Australia with a couple dinners at the house, a couple of dinners out, a trip to Gettysburg for a tour around the battlefield (maybe sometime later I'll write about this...it was pretty awesome), a walk around the town during the "Fall Jubilee", and a trip to price club that my Australian friend couldn't believe was so big!
2. Cleaning the house for the dinners at the house with the Aussies, mowing the lawn and mulching leaves because it's fall and that's what you have to do at this time of year.
3. Trip to WV to see the new great niece since the adoption was finalized...FINALLY! She is a doll and the trip was totally worth it...but tiring!
4. Work, work, work
5. Making some new bead jewelry that took a little time since I have never done this before.
6. Some maintenance health visits that are totally time consuming but necessary. ( I'm trying to be a more compliant patient since I am daily complaining about "non-compliant patients" in my job.)
7. Reading my romance novels and watching reality TV....yeah I know...this is so shallow but it is sooo relaxing!
8. Celebrating 2 of the guys birthdays with a family dinner. (The Italian chicken was fabulous and the funfetti cake that was requested by one of the birthday guys was pretty good too!)

Anyway, it has been pretty hectic around here this last month and I don't really see it slowing down anytime soon. We plan a family trip to WV again before the holidays since we may not have the time or good weather to travel during the actual holiday season. Then, time to put up Christmas decorations and SHOPPING! My closet has been calling to me that it needs a little maintenance, we are still trying to finish the outside painting before the weather really gets bad, the middle son bought me a new tree to replace my fallen tree and that will take a bit of muscle to get planted....And so the list goes....

Quiz on the "3 Guys"

How well do you know the “3 guys”? Test your knowledge below:

1. Which son had to be picked up at mother’s day out because his mom got the following call? “Mrs. O, we usually don’t call the mothers to come pick their children up, but he is getting so hoarse from crying, we felt it would be better.”

2. Which is the only son to cut his own hair the day before pictures at his preschool?

3.Which is the only son to draw on the wall with something other than crayons?

4.Which son sings in the shower? (This may be multiple choice.)

5. Which son got in trouble when he was in elementary school for calling the girls in the lunch line by a part of the female body? This required a call to the parents from the principal. (In his defense, it was a perfectly medical/anatomic term! It might have been better if we had actually discussed the appropriateness of calling boys and girls by their anatomic differences. I guess you live and learn as a parent!)

6.Which son had his school picture taken the day after he did a face plant down the driveway from a fall?

7.Which son has the nickname “Big Toe”?

8.Which son sang in a talent show when he was only in the sixth grade?

9. Which son responded to his friend telling him that his dad was Santa Claus by saying: “ My dad can’t be Santa Claus because he doesn’t get up that early”?

10.Which son is the only one that ever was suspended from elementary school for fighting?

11.Which son made a trip to the emergency room for getting hit in the head by a sprinkler?

12. After a discussion about traveling out of the United States and the need to have a visa to enter some countries, which son said: “Well if they (meaning countries that sometimes don’t issue entry visas) don’t take visa, do they take American Express?

13. Which son’s favorite expression when he was very little was “Read the Book”?

14. Which son is the only one to break a bone?

15. Which son had a car accident in front of the church revival camp and was asked to “come join them for church sometime”?

16. Which son is on his fifth cell phone because he has either lost or destroyed his other ones?

17. Which son sucked his thumb?

18. Which son had a special “fuzzy blanket” that he picked the fuzz off and gave away pieces of the fuzz like they should be treated as if they were gold?

19. Which son said at the end of his first soccer season, walking from the field: “ I am never playing that game again”…His parents asking : Well, why not?…“BECAUSE I HATE TO RUN.”

20.Which son got a home run in t-ball because the right fielder lost his shoe and sat down to put it back on before he threw the ball back?

ANSWER LEGEND: O=Oldest Son, M= Middle Son, Y= Youngest Son

1. O-We thought we might never get him to stay at mother’s day out, but eventually he did.

2. M-He cut off a big chunk right from the middle of his bangs…no hiding that!

3. Y-Enough said.

4. This could be a multiple choice: Give yourself the point if you picked O or Y.

5. Y-Give him a break, he was only 6.

6. M- He had the ability to always pick the day before pictures to do something.

7. M-He can’t help if he got his pawpaw’s big toe.

8. Y-He was pretty brave to be up there singing by himself in front of all those people when most of the other “talent” was just singing along with the record.

9. O-He was dead set about this.

10. M-He really shouldn’t have hit the guy, but the guy jumped on him first and actually broke his glasses before Middle son ever swung back.

11. Y- He looked pretty pathetic with gauze wrapped around his head and blood all over his shirt. For those of you that don’t know what a professional sprinkler looks like, think size of carburetor and heavy. The sprinkler head came flying off into the air and Youngest Son took off running to “get out of the way.” If he had stayed still, it wouldn’t have hit him but what are the chances of that!

12. O- He always was very cerebral.

13. Y- I know this is a surprise that he actually liked to read. The Middle son is the reader now.

14. M-He broke his collar bone at JMU while snowboarding, while a blizzard was going on. Mom could not get down to JMU due to the weather and that was not a good thing for the motherof3guys. Older son was on hand to "help".

15. O- This was a real story. He was picking his brother up as a favor to the parents. He had installed a supped up CD player in the glove compartment of his old Opal. He decided mid-drive to take the key out of the ignition to open the glove box to change the CD, WHILE HE WAS DRIVING. He quickly learned that taking the key out, shuts down all the functions of the car. They were lucky that crossing the other lane of traffic, jumping over a big barrel of flowers and ending in a ditch was all that happened to them. The police officer didn’t issue a ticket but did say that this story moves to the head of his “dumb stories to tell.” Just glad they didn't get hurt. The only casualty was the OPAL.

16. M-He has a little trouble with losing items and dropping cell phones into cups of beverages.

17. NONE of the Guys-this was a trick question! No points for this one and no penalty!

18. O- He carried that fuzzy white blanket around for what seemed like forever! His mamaw still has a small bunch of Fuzz that he lovingly gave to her.

19. Y-I can still see him stomping his feet and declaring that he was NEVER playing soccer again.

20. M-He was the youngest player on that team that year and was the only player to not have a homerun so when this happened, it was smiles from ear to ear. (His mother yelled RUN!!! The whole time he was rounding the bases. The other team were all yelling to the poor kid in right field to “Get the BALL.”)


SCORING: (One point for each question that you answered right.)

15-20 Way to Go! You must have lived with one of the 3 guys or are a member of the family. (This group may be large because many people have lived in the “Hotel” that has been in operation for 32 years. OR you happen to have lived with one of the 3 guys at college!)

6-14 You made the honor roll. You’re not part of the family but have probably been around the guys a bit.

1-5 Needs Improvement- Better spend a little time with the guys!

0 YOU’VE GOT TO BE KIDDING- Even guessing you should have gotten 1 right!

Let me know how you do!

Reasons I haven't written a blog for a while

Ok, so here are the reasons (make that excuses) why I haven't written anything lately in the blog:
1. Laziness- it just seems easier somedays to just sit on that couch and vegetate.
2. Trying to keep up with my celebrity trash reading- I'm a little ashamed to admit that I have not one but TWO subscriptions to trash magazines. It takes a little bit of time to read them weekly.
3. The new TV season (ie. reality shows and other favorties) I admit I like to watch my Survivor, Dancing with the Stars, Grey's Anatomy, and House... to name a few.
4 The grass is growing more now that it is not so darned hot and that means twice a week lawn mowing.
5. Trip to WV- It takes a little time to get back in the swing of things after a long weekend travelling.
6. Romance Novel Reading-(Don't make fun of this until you try it.) ..I'm not the only one in America that reads this junk and I freely admit that it is fluff reading...that's why I like it.
7. Housework and Work Work- There never seems to be enough time to do everything on the weekends and forget about starting major cleaning/organizing jobs...that's out for now. Work has been exceptionally busy in a random fashion, so just when you think you're going to get out on time, something comes up to delay you.
8. Bill paying-a job I hate but one that has to be done.
9. Surfing the net just for pleasure and reading the news on the internet-Guilty!
10. Spending time with family and friends instead of time in front of the computer- It was good to see Justin & Cara, Tommy & Becky over the weekend!

Ok I'm sure there are other excuses for not writing something new but I am working on a small piece...It is just taking a little more time than I thought...It will be Coming Soon......

PS. Can't believe i am actually writing a blog because I used to hate writing in school-What's up with that?

Reality TV Junkie and the new TV season

So the new TV season is getting ready to start.
As most of you know, I am a reality TV junkie.
I’ve been trying to improve, but still I am embarrassed to say that I watch reality shows.
Some of these shows are really so stupid but my problem always comes when they “hook” me. I just want to see “what happens next.” In my defense, there are obviously other “reality junkies “ out there or these shows wouldn’t be on.

I will admit that I really enjoy the dancing shows because I am awed that people, with little training, can get up in front of millions and do those dances. I enjoy the music and the dancing…I don’t enjoy the commentary from the husband and sons if they happen to be around!

I felt like I was making progress on not watching reality TV, until I watched a few Big Brother all stars shows this year. (I know what you’re thinking but it’s just that there didn’t seem to be anything else on TV that I was the least bit interested in…and it just happened to be on!)
I always wonder what makes people decide to participate in these shows.
The people on the big brother show have already done this once, and I would love to know if it really is the money or the “fame” that they want. I personally wonder what they think when they come across not so favorably to millions.

When I first started watching Big Brother this year, I didn’t know many of the all-star players because I had only watched the first and the last seasons.
It was my first time seeing some of the players. One of the previous winners from season two was a doctor of dermatology. As I am watching all of his shenanigans, I wondered what his patients are thinking.

My sister thinks he is a real genius because:

1. He had to be really smart to be a dermatologist. (For those of you that don’t know this, dermatology is one the hardest areas of medicine to get into. Dermatologist are usually at the top of their classes in school.)
2. He knows how to manipulate and play Big Brother. He is a master player for getting others to do what he wants.
3. He is smart to use his TV fame for marketing. My sister said that he had people from all over the US calling for appointments after his last big brother appearances.
   I’m not so sure that having “Big Brother Contestant” on his CV would inspire a lot of confidence in my mind.

He is an interesting character and has made the show funny, but I would really like to see how he lives “out of the house.”

I am a diehard Survivor fan and am interested in seeing how the “new concept” of dividing the tribes into races is going to play out. Already I am a little tired of the comments referring to “highlighting of stereo types”. Come on people, it’s just a game.

When I watch survivor, I am constantly saying : “there is no way I would ever be a contestant on this show.”

You may ask why I don't think I would cut it as a survivor contestant?:

1. I hate bugs!
2. Mosquitoes love me and I would be one big giant bug bite.
3. I am a picky eater with a weak stomach that would never tolerate bugs and such.
4. I’m a grouch when I don’t eat!
5. I would miss my baths!
6. As my middle son says: I like to clean too much.
7. As my husband says: I like to be in control and would probably be voted off pretty quick because I am too opinionated!
8. I also wouldn’t be able to do the swimming challenges because as I’ve gotten older, I don’t swim much.

All moot point because I don’t plan on trying out for Survivor.
I guess I’ll just be a reality show junkie and watch what happens next…

Walmart = Money Spent

Having a Walmart almost within walking distance is really not the best idea for your budget .

I admit that I love to do a little Walmart shopping every now and then. Since the Walmart near us has groceries too, it's a good excuse to stop and take a little look see, PLUS avoid the grocery store.

If you ask the husband, he will invariably tell you that I call him weekly on my way home from work to say, "I'm just going to stop real quick at the Walmart and pick up a few things."

I have a real problem with just "wandering around" the store JUST TO LOOK. I waste more time "wandering" because I get in that store and think "maybe they got a new shipment of"... sandals or flowers or whatever happens to pop into my brain.

I was looking for a receipt to take something back the other day and my husband happened to notice all the many receipts I was searching through. (Here's a news bulletin: I'm a bit compulsive and have kept all my receipts for the last couple of years.) He was giving me a hard time about that and asked why I needed to keep several years of receipts.

While I had them all lined out on the counter, it became obvious that when the Walmart was located on the other side of town, I didn't frequent Walmart much.

As they say, a picture is worth a thousand words:

Receipts from Walmart within walking distance:

Receipts from Walmart across town

Now I know there are some out there that do not and will not support Walmart because of some of their policies. We have one friend that Hates Walmart and will expound on why we should not support it. I agree that they could improve on some things. I know from my experience of filling out disability paperwork and return to work notes for some of my patients over the years that Walmart does not make it easy for their employees sometimes. One time I had to write a note saying that one of my pregnant patient's needed to take a bathroom break every so many minutes/hours and the same for getting drinks of water!!?? That is ridiculous that a person needs a note to get a drink!

It doesn't stop me from enjoying wandering around and "finding a deal".

I had a few errands to run the other day, and Walmart was on the list.

When I came home, I was talking to my husband and I said that I hadn't stopped at Walmart.

He very calmy said, "I know."

I said, "How did you know I didn't stop there...I just got home."

He said, "You weren't gone very long!"

Unfortunately, Walmart = Money Spent and I would definiately have more money if the Walmart was still located across town!

Chocoholic dog

I've just got to accept that we have a chocoholic dog!

Lucy is the BEST DOG IN THE WORLD except for perhaps a little neurosis and a nose that can find chocolate....no matter where it is!

Lucy is now 12 years old and I'm surprised that she has managed not to kill herself from all the chocolate she has eaten in her life. She is really smart and can sit, dance, bark, sneeze, rollover, go to her bed, shake, grin, and bow. Most of the time on command, but some of the time, when she is not sure...she will go through all of her tricks all at once, to get her treats.

She is getting a little, shall we say...Plump? ..to avoid hurting her feelings. As my husband says, he has a happy dog and he doesn't care if she is fat or not! Her being chubby is not from eating chocolate, but if she had her way, she would like more of that substance any chance she gets.

Because she is so smart, it has long been established that you cannot leave any sweets (mainly chocolate, but also gum) down in her space.

Most of the time, we remember not to leave stuff in her range, but it never fails that we occassionally forget. Christmas and Easter are usually a given that some form of chocolate will be left where she can get to them. This has been going on since we got her and I can guarantee that every Christmas and Easter, that dog gets her chocolate! For years, I reminded the boys to "keep the candy away from Lucy," and for years, someone always forgot.

She has, on one occassion, even managed to get into the pantry and pull over a bag of chocolate chips. That experience was almost the deadly one, because she really got sick from the dark chocolate. My understanding is that the darker the chocolate, the more lethal it is to dogs.

The other chocolate occassions are usually random occurrences, but there are many stories of Lucy unzipping my purse, pulling out everything in the purse to get to a chocolate mint that I had forgotten about. Almost every visit that mamaw makes to our house results in Lucy getting into her purse for the ever present gum!

She is pretty amazing when it comes to UNZIPPING backpacks. There are numerous occassions that she would manage to get ahold of left over chocolate bar or gum or whatever else she smelled in the boy's backpacks that they had long forgotten about.

Last week, the backpack unzipping dog struck again and below is the evidence:

Jeffrey had left his backpack down on the floor and that little devil unzipped it for the M&M's she smelled. Jeffrey did not even remember that those were in there, so there's no telling how long they were in that front pouch.

She is smart enough to know she is not suppose to get into things. When I came down the stairs, she was cowering on the stairs. I couldn't figure out if this was because of her normal "neurosis" or for some other reason. I though I better have a look around before I started working. As I walked around, she was like that game of hot/cold. When I went toward the kitchen...no real response from her. (colder) When I went toward the living room (the scene of the backpack), she cowered more.(hotter!) I happened to be working from home that day, and she stayed away from me all day.

She always gives herself away with bad behavior because she won't come to greet us when we come in. One day she stayed upstairs for over an hour, before she would come say hello. You would think we beat her or something, but she is just neurotic and really doesn't like to be yelled at...if only the boys had been that easy when they were little!

Even being a chocoholic, she still is the best dog...how can you not love that look on her face?

It pretty much says: I know I've done something I shouldn't but I'm too cute to not love!

OBBIV

Another OBB has now come and gone.
This was the fourth annual Owens Backyard Bash (OBB).

For those of you that don't know, we started this tradition as a “wouldn’t it be fun to have a party with all our friends” before the kids return to college.

That first year it actually became Tommy & Becky’s wedding celebration.

It was quite the surprise when they said, “all our friends have RSVP’d that they are coming for the OBB, so we were thinking it would be a good time to get married.”
That was just two weeks before the first OBB and let me tell you that that was a pretty BUSY two weeks!
Tommy finally had to write on the e-vite that “NO Becky is not pregnant!” because they got asked so many times if that was the reason for the quick wedding.
The real reason was that they were buying a new house and had been engaged for almost a year and were just READY!
All the numerous details involved with weddings were quickly whittled down to bare necessities and the wedding and OBB wedding celebration turned out great!
As someone said, and I agree, “If you have one year to get ready for a wedding, it takes one year…if you have 2 weeks for a wedding, it takes 2 weeks!”

We have continued the OBB tradition because everyone seems to really have a good time getting together, drinking, and enjoying the music.

Now out of those reasons, my favorite is always the music (since most of the music is my boys!)and getting to see everyone.

Being the “I know someone who died like that “ kind of person, I always worry about the drinking part. Fortunately, most of the guests try to abide by the drinking rules: No drinking and driving. A lot of the guests do sleepover and that really is one of the fun parts of the OBB.

People always ask if we are going to do the OBB next year, and the answer to that is always conditional on the outcome of each party. If there is a “drinking problem”, that would be one way to cancel future OBB’s in my mind. I guess that means that future OBB’s are dependent on the current guests.

I was a little nervous this year because of our short visit last year from the city police. They had a complaint about “loud noise and band.” The funny part about that visit was that they had a little trouble finding a parking spot out front due to all the parked cars. By the time they found a parking spot and located the “responsible party” (that would be my husband and I), the band had already broken down. They were very nice and didn’t stay but about 5 minutes. Some of the party guests didn’t even know they were present. They left stating that if they got another complaint, we would have to move indoors but both officers indicated that they did not see any problems. We didn’t have any visits from the “city’s finest” this year, so I would mark OBBIV as a success.

I understand that the tentative OBBV is already scheduled for Aug. 4, 2007. Check out Jerry’s blog with the official OBBV countdown. Jerry’s parents were saying that he rated the OBB right up there with Christmas and Thanksgiving and that he definitely would not want to miss it.

This year the OBBIV started out pretty quiet. We have discussed moving the start time later since the 11:59 AM time makes for a long day. The majority of partygoers usually come around 4:00-5:00. I really enjoyed the quiet start this year and the early start allows the band members get a chance to eat before they perform. The time detail will be discussed prior to OBBV evites going out.

This year I thought the music was very eclectic and, for the most part, pretty good.
When I say “ for the most part”, I mean that there always are those request songs that the band hasn’t really practiced much. I am always amazed that the band can perform those requests “off the top of their head” and still sound reasonable. Phish, Alison Krauss, Indigo girls, Dave Mathews, Justin songs, Johnny Cash, “the Boss”, the Beatles and many more were all represented musically. (Gee Justin…that’s a pretty good group to be listed with….)

The OBB is always a time for many performers to join the OBros and this year was no exception.

We didn’t get a performance with Uncle Gary this year on the drums and I’m not sure how that happened. Uncle Gary was the first drummer to ever play with the boys, many years ago.

I personally always love the Fri night before the OBB, because that is “Practice night”. It is always a blast to see all the Owens family, (Dad & uncle included) playing music together in the basement.

I said a couple of times during the OBBIV, “OH, I have to listen to this song…this is one of my favorites”.
One of the partygoers said to me later in the night, “I have heard you say that more than once today.” I guess most of the songs the boys play would be “my favorites!”

OBBIV was a record breaking moment….It was Michal’s debut singing venue. That was pretty fun to see him joining in the vocals and it looked like he had a great time!

The weather this year could not have been more perfect!! It was much better than the 90+humidity that we had last year.

The OBBIV had the traditional flip cup game and the traditional “WVa hot dog” fixings. Pretty soon we may have a lot more converts to the WVa way to make a hot dog. (This is a hot dog with homemade chili and topped with cole slaw. )

Finally, my 80+ year old neighbor that I traditionally take cookies to after the OBB for tolerating the OBB once a year, said she enjoyed watching the action from the comfort of her home. She is pretty cute with her comments.
One year she asked “what the kids were doing around the tables?…it looked like they were playing a game.” I then had to explain flip cup to her…that was kind of surreal to be explaining a drinking game to your 80+neighbor!
She said that she could remember when her parents were not too thrilled with the jitterbug and “new music.” This year she commented that it looked like the kids were growing up…more babies present…slightly less wildness.

It is always a lot of hard work both before and after the OBB. It was a couple of days off work that involved yard work, food shopping, and house cleaning. The poor lady that kept trying to shop around me and my flat dolly at Price Club definitely didn't like the OBB preparations. The day after is always a pretty long day cleaning up after all the "Fun." Fortunately, the boys and Becky help with the clean up. I missed getting a picture of the "morning after shot" and the husband in the kitchen...that was a lot of cups, bowls, etc to wash!

But the OBBIV= 102+guests, 8 kids, 4 dogs, 96 hotdogs, 40 hamburgers, 2 loins of barbecue, 2 lbs macaroni, 2 lbs potato salad, 6 dozen cookies, 2 batches of brownies, rice krispie treats, 3 kegs of beer, 1 bottle of tequila, 0 police.....All in all: PRICELESS!

Still Here...Barely!

Just a quick line to say the blog topic about the OBBIV will be coming soon and that I am still here...barely!
I caught what I am referring to as an OBB cold and my stamina is about nil after preparing for the OBB, cleaning up after the OBB, and returning to work after the OBB.
I keep telling myself I will write a quick synopsis of all the fun, but haven't really had the creative juices available to do it justice.
So...coming soon....the OBBIV review and hopefully pictures.