Back Home Visit

Ok I know it has been a while, 4 weeks I think it said, but here I am, back from the trip to my home of Parkin, AR. We left sunny Colorado for the wet, gloominess of Arkansas on New Years Day. We stayed a week at my Mom's in Parkin with visits to the in-laws every day. It is always good to go home and see what has changed. We visited Earle, many months after the tornado hit there and destroyed part of the town, my grandmothers home is being torn down as it was hit and destroyed. Sometimes I think a tornado needs to hit Parkin and take some of it away and some of the people too, maybe starting with the great mayor of Parkin.
I am not used to all the rain that we got while home, I know you think what rain, we only average about 5 inches of moisture, rain and snow, a year. We have not had much snow this year at all, in fact today it is near 60 degrees.
Anyway, it was good to see all the family and friends that we could see. Thanks Dianne for getting some of those together at Mazzios. I do miss all my friends, have mentioned to Jeff about maybe coming back to AR but he says NO, so guess you will have to come and visit us here. We will be back for a very short stay in March, BBQ contest in Little Rock.
Friday, before I left work, I asked if we are off on Monday, and they said oh for MLK day, I said NO for JER day... I dont think they liked that!!! Then being the smart ass that I can be,, not very often, I asked if THEY were going to celebrate on Tues for Obama day. I am not repeating what I said about it but I bet you can guess and NO I am not watching, think I have better things to do...
Take care all,

BABY ITS COLD OUTSIDE

The last few days it has been so cold, Monday AM it was -20 here. That's right, 20 degrees below 0. Sunday was very cold too, I think we hit a high of 2 or 3 and we had to shovel the snow off the driveway but waited til it got warmer, that was at 2 or 3 degrees. One of my patients has his own business, heating and plumbing, his phone rings constantly. I have had my snow for the year and now ready to think about spring.
Looking forward to coming home for a visit. Dianne, can't wait to see your house. Looking forward to some good BBQ, good fun and catching up on all the happenings.
Merry Christmas to everyone and hope to see you all soon!

BUSY DAYS!

As you may know, I am a home care nurse, back in this position now for a year after leaving it for 5 years working in cardiology. There are days I miss my job in the office of 7-5:30 and weekends off and holidays off.. maybe I need to go back, but NO I like home care. We have been very busy at work. We just lost 2 nurses, one changing to another role in our department and another had to retire due to rules of being at this hospital for so many years but will be able to come back early spring. Anyway... another nurse is out for surgery that she had to get done now due to the changes that will take effect in January with all the new changes made in PTO and benefits. So we are just admitting patients like we never lost a nurse and our territories get larger!! I guess I should not complain... I do have a job!. OK thanks for listening...

This weekend is the BIG party at Jeff's work. It is in Denver at the Marriott, free food and drink plus a room! His BIG boss is the ex-Gov of Colorado, Roy Romer. Jeff has met him once and seemed like a nice guy. I am sure we will have fun at the party.

Speaking of parties!!!! We will be coming home Jan 1 and plan to go to our favorite resturant The Rendevous in Memphis.. I have already been looking at their menu!! We miss BBQ! SO we want to get all of our friends and family together and meet at the Rendevous early evening on Sat, Jan 3 for food and fun! Let me know if you want to join us!!!

READY OR NOT, THE HOLIDAYS ARE HERE!

Where did the year go? I can not believe it is Thanksgiving week. The hustle and bustle of the season has started. Today at Walmart, you would have thought it was the day before Thanksgiving. So many people and maybe they had the same idea as I did, get it done before Wednesday evening. Jeff's work provided all employees with either turkey, ham or prime rib.. well we got prime rib, never cooked this before so I also bought a turkey breast for just in case the prime rib fails.
Oh I added a recipe today to my blog site. It is a sweet potato casserole. I entered this recipe into our local paper's recipe contest and it did get published! I also had another recipe that made the paper, French toast casserole. I will post it later. Last year I think I had 3 entries that made the paper. The paper offers $100 prize money for the winning recipe, I have not made it yet but will keep working on this.
Dianne, got the lights up yet? We don't really decorate outside here. We have put icicle lights up outside but with the strong winds we have here, they end up on top of the house instead of hanging down. We are going to put the tree up on Thanksgiving since we will all be home at one time. As I was going through town Friday evening, there are so many people who have decorated outside. Well the weather has been good, no snow yet and we usually have had at least 5 or more inches by now. I don't want too much snow since my snow shoveler has gone to college.

BATHROOM ETIQUETTE

My husband had to tell me his latest bathroom encounter this week. Jeff drives over the road for Colorado Equipment, a John Deere Dealership in Greeley. He was at a truck stop either in Nebraska or Iowa, and Jeff said this guy was in a stall and his push to talk phone beeped and someone called his name (guy in toliet) and he asked if he could get back with them in a minute. The lady beeped back and asked "Well what are you doing?"
The guy said, " I am busy"
She asked again "Doing what"
He said, " I am taking a SH!!"
She came back and said "WEll thanks for telling me that!"
He said "Well you asked"

Moral to story, Just turn your phone off in the bathroom if you are going to be BUSY!

At my work, we no longer have pagers, we have cell phones due to we did not get pages when we were out and about. Lots of times I may have a call in to a MD office and guess when they will call me back... as soon as I am in the middle of a dressing change or drawing blood. Never fails.

SMOKE ON THE WATER

I think I may have mentioned this back in my first blog but if not here it is again. Jeff and I are Certified BBQ Judges for Kansas City BBQ Society. This was the only way we figured to get some decent BBQ since they do not know what that is exactly here. We have judged 3 contests and look forward to judging more this summer. A few weeks ago, I sent in for us to judge a contest in Little Rock in March. It is a huge contest. $50,000 of a contest! They are waiting for returning judges to come back and since we are originally from Arkansas we were put on the list for potential judges if they needed extra. Guess what! We are coming back to Arkansas to judge.. the coolest thing about it is there is a party the night before with VIP seating to see .38 Special!!! I am so ready for this now!!! This all takes place downtown Little Rock near Clinton Library, down on the River.
Ok when we are finished we will be coming back to Parkin and will share our "left overs" from the contest.
Oh yea... see all of you Arkies in January too....

Small Towns

Someone sent this to me and OH how I laughed and said yep that happened or that's right.



SMALL TOWNS
Those who grew up in small towns will laugh when they read this.Those who didn't will be in disbelief and won't understand how true it is.
1) You can name everyone you graduated with.

2) You know what 4-H means.

3) You went to parties at a pasture, barn, gravel pit, or in the middle of a dirt road. On Monday you could always tell who was at the party because of the scratches on their legs from running through the woods when the party was busted. (See #5.)

4) You used to 'drag' Main .

5) You scheduled parties around the schedules of different police officers, because you knew which ones would bust you and which ones wouldn't.

6) You could never buy cigarettes because all the store clerks knew how old you were (and if you were old enough, they'd tell your parents anyhow.) Besides, where would you get the money?

7) You knew which section of the ditch you would find the beer your buyer dropped off.

8) It was cool to date somebody from the neighboring town.

9) The whole school went to the same party after graduation.

10) You didn't give directions by street names but rather by references. Turn by Nelson's house, go 2 blocks to Anderson 's, and its four houses left of the track field.

11) The golf course had only 9 holes.

12) You couldn't help but date a friend's ex-boyfriend/girlfriend.

13) Your car stayed filthy because of the dirt roads, and you will never own a white vehicle for this reason.

14) The town next to you was considered 'trashy' or 'snooty,' but was actually just like your town.

15) You referred to anyone with a house newer then 1955 as the 'rich' people.

16) The people in the 'big city' dressed funny, and then you picked up the trend 2 years later.

17) Anyone you wanted could be found at the local gas station or on Main Street .

18) You saw at least one friend a week driving a tractor through town or one of your friends driving a grain truck to school occasionally.

19) The gym teacher suggested you haul hay or pick rock for the summer to get stronger.

20) Directions were given using THE stop light as a reference.

21) When you decided to walk somewhere for exercise, 5 people would pull over and ask if you wanted a ride.

22) Your teachers called you by your older siblings' names.

23) Your teachers remembered when they taught your parents.
24) You could charge at any local store or write checks without any ID.

25) There was no McDonalds.

26) The closest mall was over an hour away.

27) It was normal to see an old man riding through town on a riding lawn mower.

28) You've peed in a wheat field.

29) Most people went by a nickname.

30) You laughed your butt off reading this because you know it is true, and you forward it to everyone who may have lived in a small town.

I would not have wanted to be raised any other way!!!!
Tough times don't last... Tough people do!!