Another weekend has almost come and gone.  They just seem to go faster and faster.  Especially when you have a busy week and look forward to the weekend.  It was a busy week at work, not only with my regular duties, but with meetings and conferences as well.  As some of you may (or may not) know, Wednesday was Administrative Professionals day.  It used to be called Secretary's day, but that is not politically correct any longer.  Plus, AP's kind of takes in more than Admins.  It also includes other "support" staff.  Our guys have, for the last few years, sent any of our staff who wanted to go, to a lunch at what is supposed to be a premier restaurant in our big city.  This place requires paid memberships.  It is on the top floors of a high rise office building with stellar views of the city.  The auxiliary that puts this on uses it as a fund raiser to help those less fortunate.  That is admirable.  They each donate or get donated, gifts for door prizes.  They give you a ticket as you register and then call numbers for prizes.  I have pretty much always come away with something.  However, this year, they must have been particularly in need of money because the meal they served us just pretty much SUCKED!!  For such an "upscale" restaurant  to serve a meal like that, well, they should be ashamed!!  And for $35 a head, it was WAY sucky!!  The only things that were edible were the salad and dessert.  All the main dishes were just awful!!  Beef tips you could NOT chew.  Chicken wings and backs (how CHEAP are those!!), and fish I would not touch.  The veggie???  Boiled cabbage with a few carrots and pieces of asparagus thrown in.  Who in the heck serves boiled cabbage for an upscale meal??  I told the girls that I would NOT be attending this little soire next year.  I think our guys pretty much got ripped off.  I know.  It was for a worthy cause.  However, the organizers should have stuck to ONE decent meat and ONE decent veggie at least.  Okay.  I am done with my griping!!  I know.  I sound like an ungracious person.

Yesterday we got up and around and went to several area neighborhood garage sales.  Mind you, we don't NEED anything and weren't LOOKING for anything in particular, we just wanted to see what people were ridding themselves of.  Our neighborhood gave us a week's notice that they are holding one next weekend.  There's no way I can be ready that quickly.  We have a whole storage building of stuff that we need to go through.  So, I am not sure we will participate.

We then attended a nearby Herb and Plant festival.  We didn't buy anything, but enjoyed looking around.  We took Piper with us and let us just say that being out in the wind yesterday did her allergies NO favors.  She has coughed and sputtered ever since.  Doggone it!!  So, I shall be dealing with a dog with bad outdoor allergies.  Oh well.  I love her NO less because of it.  Last night we went to Los Cabos out at River Walk.  It took us an hour and a half to get a table and then the meal was a long time coming because they were so busy.  I hate eating that late in the evening and so does hubby.  We did enjoy a band that was playing and also just people watching, but it got a little old by the time they called us.   We did learn very quickly that people should not get drunk and THEN show up out there.  Two young men, a woman and three children came walking into the outside area.  One of the men was OBVIOUSLY drunk and could hardly walk.  Next thing WE knew, there were no less than three police officers and two plain clothes officers who are normally at the venue ALL having a serious talk with these two young men.  Hopefully, the woman was driving since there were THREE small children with them.  After a good talking to, the police told them to leave.  We watched the one guy in particular weave his way to their car.  I have nothing against having a drink.  However, if you are going to be driving your CHILDREN  or yourself for that matter, for heaven's sake, don't over do it.  On second thought.  Just don't drive.  Anywhere.  Just stay home!!  There's plenty of takee outee to be delivered.

Okay.  I am off my soap box.  Dang.  I sound like a cranky old woman.  So sorry.....  I have always felt that way about drinking and driving because I lost an aunt to a drunk driver.  She was only 40 years old.  Way too young to lose her life. 

It is a lovely, albeit a COOL day here.  Winds are from the North and just have a little bite to them.  I did buy some plants for my planters on the patio and that is on my list of things to do today.   Well, the puppy  is demanding attention (by doing things she shouldn't...), so I am going to take myself on outta here.

Have a great week, my friends.  Till next time...

BBB

Hey there everyone!!  I am sorry I haven't been around here to blog.  I am a BAD BAD blogger!!  I guess my only excuse is that I have been really busy at work.  And when I get home most evenings, hubby is on the laptop.  Thus, I am limited to when he isn't on.  He is on a "project" tonight, so I thought it would be good to get on here and say hi!

We caught up with some good friends from church that we haven't seen in a while.  They are a really interesting couple who met several years ago through an online dating site, met and eventually fell in love and married.  He is absolute hoot.  One of those big tall bald guys with a very dry sense of humor.  She is a little tiny doll of a woman who drives him to distraction.  He is not a neatnik and she is a clean freak.  Anyway, we met them for dinner and then went over to their house and played some dominoes.  Did I mention that I suck at dominoes at times?  This last Friday was one of them.  I started out with two strong rounds and then it was all downhill from there.

Saturday we did chores around here and then kept our youngest  grandchild.  It was the first time she has stayed without her older sister.  I think it was hard for her not having Sissy here.  And, Grammy  just didn't plan ahead well enough.  C got "bored" really quickly with coloring and "playing" Wii* with hubby.  I usually have some ready made cookie dough for the girls to bake up.  When C asked, I had nada!!  BAD BAD Grammy!!

Well, hubby is finished with his project out in the shop and needs the laptop.  So, I better get off here.

I will try to write again later this week!  You all  take care!

BBB

It is Sunday evening and we are back from our camping trip.  I got off at my usual 5:00 o'clock on Friday, but I had packed most of my clothing and essentials at lunch time.  So, all we had to do was load our stuff, including the food we bought, into the trailer which hubby had pulled into our driveway.  We have these REALLY nice big RUTS in the side yard now since the ground had not dried up from our recent rains.  Speaking of which, if you have watched any national weather, you may know that we have had some extraordinary rains lately.  I think I may have mentioned I was considering looking up dimensions for an ark.  The recent rains DEFINITELY played into our weekend.  We went to Sequoyah State Park on Lake Fort Gibson.  Hubby has a place there that he really likes to stay so that is where we went.  We pulled into the RV camping area and lo and behold, at least HALF of it was under water.  We looked down the hill to our usual favorite campsite and it wasn't under water, but the water was NOT far away.  We found a pretty nice pull-through spot and parked the trailer.  The camp host was not long in coming by to give us the scoop.  He said that the pad we had chosen was fine, but did warn us that the water was still rising.  He was pretty sure that we'd be okay though so we decided to stay there.  We did notice that there was a little elderly lady and a man sitting down in chairs at the campsite we usually stay at.  They were sitting there fishing from the bank.  This is where they sat MOST of the weekend.  Talk about being die-hard fishermen!!  It was ding durn COLD and windy to boot.  But they sat there hour after hour ALL weekend.  Saturday afternoon, I had stepped out of the trailer to take the puppy to do her business, hubby was in the trailer napping.  All of a sudden I here this woman hollering.  I look down and she has a fish on her line and it almost pulled her into the water.  To her credit, this little elderly lady wasn't going to let "the big one" get away!!  She expertly landed the fish.  Turned out it was the BIGGEST catfish I have ever seen.  This is notable because I spent most weekends when I was growing up, going to visit my grandparents (Mom's parents), who were quite good fishermen.  So I watched a lot of fishing and have seen some pretty nice fish in my time.  This fish was at LEAST two feet long.  The lady's husband had to help her hold it up and get the hook out and put it on a line.  Of course, they took numerous pictures of the catch.  It was pretty amazing and all our fellow campers had to go to their camp and check it out that evening. 

Little did I know though, that MY adventures for the weekend were just beginning.  Hubby and I got camp all set up and yes, Toni, it was REALLY cold.  But we brought plenty of firewood for camp fires which I think I mentioned before, is one of our fave things to do.  I was tired though, so the puppy and I stayed in the camper and watched TV.  We turned in about 10 and both hubby and I were pretty tired.  Fast forward to 3:00 a.m.   The puppy starts whining, then yapping.   It seems that not only had I forgotten to take her out before turning in, her little cough that we barely noticed in our haste to get out of town, had turned into a full blown problem with coughing and sneezing.  After taking her out to do her business, there was NO putting her back in her crate.  She kept barking.  I think we were probably officially voted as the most annoying campers for Friday night!!  Anywho, I had to put her in bed with me and she was up ALL night coughing and sneezing.  You know those nights where you watch the clock and just pray for morning to get there??  That was MY night.  As soon as I knew our vet was open yesterday, I called and they said they could see her.  So, puppy and I loaded into the truck, left hubby and the Weimie dog, and scuttled ALL the way back home (about an hour's drive), and went to the vet.  Piper has a cold and it turns out she had a fever as well.  So she got doggy Amoxicillin (which smells like bubblegum....just like you would give a two year old human child), and some cough medicine.  The vet showed me how to administer it, and off we went BACK to camp.  It turns out that every time I tried to go out with the puppy, even to let her do her business, she'd have a coughing/sneezing fit.  So, no campfire time for me!!  BTW, she is feeling MUCH better, and I can even give her the meds all by myself if I need to.

Did I mention that it was FREEZING cold and windy?  The wind was just howling ALL weekend.  Now, our travel trailer is nicely equipped with central heat and air.  But did I crank it up enough on Friday night?  Ummmm....no!  I about froze my bunns off!  I was SO tired and concerned about the dog that I never got up and cranked the heat up a notch.  Puppy and I about froze until hubs got up and HE cranked it up.  Needless to say, I didn't have that problem Saturday night.  Plus, I let hubby field the puppy for the night.  I took me some Tylenol PM, turned on my air machine to block the noise, and passed PLUM out for the night. 

There were some good parts to the weekend.  I LOVE cooking and cleaning in my little kitchen.  It is therapeutic for me.  I made breakfast both mornings that were yummy!!  Camping is the only time, pretty much, that we ever eat eggs and sausage.  Also, I had brought some nice rib eye steaks and we grilled those last night.  They were HEAVENLY!!  Hubby did get in some nice nap time while I was taking the puppy to the vet as I was gone for several hours and he had run of the place.  Also, we watched a movie together last night.  Wild Hogs* was pretty funny.  Not the BEST movie I have ever seen, but it was enjoyable.

Oh, by the way, last night, the lake came up at LEAST another four feet.  The camp we usually stay in was COMPLETELY under water.  I am kind of wondering when that will stop, but I'm not sure. 

So, there you have my camping adventures!! Not exactly what we planned, but, hey, it at least had a few good moments!!  I hope all my blog friends had a wonderful weekend.  I am off now to do a little catching up and blog walking!  You all take care and have a GREAT week!

BBB

Hi friends!!  I am sitting here on a beautiful Saturday morning, finally getting to blog!!  Wooofreakinghoo!!  I am a happy camper!!  It took me some tries, but I finally figured out how to get back here to Live Writer.  I told ya I was techno-challenged!!

It seems like forever since I have updated on much of anything so here goes.  This might be long.  I will warn you right up front!  So kick those shoes off and grab a cuppa joe and sit back for a read!!

Several of you have asked about Piper.  Well, she is now a whopping six pounds and is just a joy!  As you know, I take her to work with me for a half day each morning.  At lunch I bring her home and leave her in her playpen for the rest of the day.  Yesterday, I had to work in our other office so I put her in her playpen and headed off to the big city.  At noon I had to drive home to check on the dogs, even though I had to drive BACK to our other office yet again for the afternoon.  Anywho, I walked in the back door when I got home and was met by none other than Piper!!  She had managed to get out of the playpen!!  So I will now have to put her in her crate anytime we are going to be gone.  We will be looking for a larger one for her for sure.

Last Friday night, we did finally get to have our evening out and birthday celebration with our friends who introduced us.  It was so good to see S and D and to have a little fun time with them.  D didn't seem to mind at all that we had to put off his celebration.  He was just glad to see everyone.  There were several people from our "old gang" that all used to dance together who made it out. It was just lovely to see everyone.  We reflected on how much fun we used to have.  I used to have Wr*ngler jeans in every color of the rainbow AND boots to match, AND cute shirts to match as well.  I now own two pairs of boots and NO boot cut jeans.  So, I didn't have the proper shoes in order to dance.  I gave it a try anyway with the birthday boy, but it was pretty pathetic!!  Between him being a little "loopy" from celebratory drinks, and my being rusty at dancing, it was almost comical!!  Oh well, I still had a good time being with long time friends.

Saturday was the big birthday Partea* for my youngest granddaughter.  She had nine other four year old girls over for the "big do"!!  The two women who put on this party were awesome.  Is it expensive?  Yes.  Is it worth every penny?  Absolutely!!  They set up two small tables with real tea service (child size), three-tiered crystal platters with petit fours and other little goodies.  They had beautiful chair coverings for each girl's chair.  They also set up a throne for our princess!!  There was a rack of brightly colored feather boas and also a rack of all kinds of glitzy dress up shoes for the girls to wear as well.  They each got to make a princess hat, and they got to get into treasure chests of "jewels" and wear those.   Our princess got to wear a CROWN which was right up her alley!! To say that the girls looked priceless is an understatement!!  All the Moms (and a couple of Dads that came) got to stick around and watch their little girls and take lots of pictures.  I will try to post some on here.  Of course our little princess made a haul of birthday loot!!  Oh, and the cake our daughter made was awesome!!  She is one talented young woman!!  The cake was in the shape of a brightly colored teapot in keeping with the theme of the party.  Everyone was impressed!  Daughter was up till midnight the night before the party making sure the fondant icing was perfect!!  I will try to post a pic of that as well.

Sunday, I went to visit a new (to me) church and hubby went to see our son.  He is at a different correctional facility (minimum security) and is actually doing very well.  He likes this new facility because he has a job. He gets up at 4:30 every morning and goes to work.  The facility where he is at supplies a lot of the other facilities in the state.  He is working loading those supplies etc.  He said the food is actually good at this facility.  All things have worked together so that he had an easy transition this time.  He does NOT usually do well with change.  We are so thankful that he is doing well and that they are working his buns off!!  That is SO good for him.  I think EVERY incarcerated individual should have a job.  That our state does not utilize this free labor source more is a shame!!  Keep their hands busy with honest work and there is less time for them to participate in questionable activities.  That's just MHO!!

I am feeling blessed relief healthwise!!  It is so good to be able to say that.  It is no longer a struggle just to get myself out of bed every day like it was.  Between the anti-depressant and the Ambien** I am finally getting good sleep and feeling less anxiety.  Is this type of therapy for everyone?? No.  Probably not.  But I am NOT ashamed to have gotten this kind of help.  I am not sure how much longer I could have continued to function with no sleep and all the stress from the last year and a half.  It is good to be able to say that better days are here in every respect.  I go back to the doctor on the 11th and I am hoping to be able to see if the anti-depressant will be a short term thing or if I have to stay on it a while.  I do NOT want to rely on these therapies any longer than is absolutely necessary to get me back to normal....well at least as normal as I get!!  I am actually starting to have a little energy and it is wonderful!!   Wooohooo!!  Hubby has had a cold these last few days, so I made him my famous homemade chicken noodle soup.  We have stayed home the last two nights and that has been our meal.  Between the soup and his cold meds, he is feeling MUCH better!!

As I write this, the guy is here taking away our pool and deck which he purchased from us!!  I am so glad that hubby isn't going to have to maintain the pool anymore.  Do I ever want another one?  Not really.  I am looking forward to seeing if the Seadoo*s are going to work (now that they have the supposedly new engines)!  If they do, it should be a FUN summer spent at the lake playing and camping!!  I can hardly wait!!

Well, this is getting overly long.  So, I guess I better get off here and get a few things done around here.  Thanks so much for all the encouragement and being faithful blog friends!!  I sure appreciate it!!  As I said before, you all are the BEST!!

Everyone have a BLESSED and lovely weekend!  Till next time....

BBB

I am trying one more time to follow the advice of my blog buddies.   If this will publish from my home laptop, I will be in business again.  Hubby has had time to help me here too.  He is our family techno-wizard who knew how to follow my friends' advice.

If this publishes, I will try to post tomorrow with a LONG and hopefully not boring update.  Lots has been going on in BBB's world.

Tonight, I am just beat, so I am going to take my tired little self off to bed.  But if this posts, I promise to be back and get caught up.  Okie dokie??

Here's hoping this publishes!  Hugs to all my blog buds and thanks for hanging in there with me!  I love ya'll!!

BBB