Branson: Days 4 and 5

So we've been so busy that I wasn't able to post yesterday. That's a good thing when you are on vacation. My brain is fuzzy (and I'm going to blame the diabetes and not me getting old)...so here goes...


Yesterday I woke up at my usual 8:30 or so. My mom was already up and went about making breakfast. She took extra good care of me by making a special sausage patty while she was making her sausage gravy with biscuits. It was good. After breakfast, my sisters-in-law Melissa and Susan, my mom, and I went shopping around town. We went to Michael's craft store (I was disappointed), Dress Barn, TJ Max, and Target. I bought some great stuff there. I got a movie I've been looking for "What About Bob?" for $5 (score!!!) and some new holiday hats that I didn't already have. I also got some great Christmas lights that I'm going to put around my computer.


We came back to the room and relaxed for awhile and we all decided to go to a place called Lambert's Cafe, which is outside of Branson. Their claim to fame is that they throw rolls at your table. Yes, you read that correctly. They serve country style food in a rustic atmosphere. They started throwing rolls at guests many years ago because they couldn't get to the table and it stuck. I bought a shirt and a very large insulated mug that I will be using at work because the Circle K cup I bought about 10 years ago looks ugly. (I also got a magnet for my growing collection.)


After dinner, we divided up and went shopping. The guys went to the Bass Pro Shop and the girls went to the Battleship Mall. It was awesome!!!! It had a great Charming Charlies and I got some great stuff. By far, it was the best one that I've been too so far. (I've been to 4 now.) Then I found they had a Sephora, which is another of my favorites. I found some glittery powder by Tarina Taratino. Love it. Next, I stumbled on to a Bath and Body Works, where I've been told there was a glittery lotion that I had to have. They were right. It's this great lotion that has a dial, so you can control your lotion to glitter ratio. As if I'd need to scale down the glitter....right. I was real happy with my haul and we basically closed the mall down and we drove back to Branson. Very shortly after arriving, I showered and went to bed.


This morning, I woke up around the same time and Mom made egg sandwiches. I only had half of one because I'm trying to watch my carbs. I hung out around the condo for a little while and then went with David in search of a Verizon store. We found one and David got his question answered. While he was doing that, I was playing phone tag with the doctor's office trying to get my insulin prescription taken care of . Still trying to work that out. If the doctor had not given me a sample insulin pen, I'd still be without. But that's another post for another time.


We came back to the room, ate a sandwich and then walked over to the Titanic museum. It was very expensive but I'm happy to say that it was the ONLY thing on the "strip" that wasn't cheesy. We spent a long time there, reading everything and looking at all the artifacts. This was of particular interest to me since I've done a Titanic unit with my students in the past. We left early to come back to go to dinner with my family. Today is my parents' 50th wedding anniversary and we all went to a real nice restaurant called the Candlestick Inn Restaurant. It had a great view of the river and the downtown area. We had stuff that I've only read about.....for appetizers, we all shared several: escargot, calamari, a cheese and fruit plate, and wild boar sausage. We all got a starter course....(we didn't share this course) we ordered sea bass and salmon bisque, french onion soup, dinner salad, and Caesar salad. (Side note here...my brother's Caesar salad romaine lettuce came in a stack that was wrapped with a leek and sat upright in his bowl. It was an interesting sight.) For dinner, we all had different things....I ordered chicken cordon bleu, David had some chicken tortellini dish (my parents had that too), there was an order of beef wellington or two and a vegetable dish that had artichokes and eggplant. Sadly, their dessert menu didn't have any sugar free items but that didn't stop others from ordering. David had tiramasu and Sable had some chocolate mousse cake.


Now, I'm sitting amongst family drinking some cafe con leche and updating everyone via my blog. Tomorrow, mom will make her famous breakfast casserole that we'll eat while watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade. We will eat and enjoy some great food and family fellowship.


Until tomorrow....

Toodles

Branson: Day 3

Howdy friends!


I know....complete shocker...me posting three days in a row...once you pick yourself up off the floor, feel free to continue reading.


So, the day started with me sleeping in until 8:30. For many of you, this would not seem like a big deal, except that I get up every work day morning at 5. On the weekends I manage to sleep until 7...so it was a nice surprise to have a little extra shut eye. (On a side note here...when I was a teenager, I would list eating, sleeping, and taking a bath as my hobbies. I've been told that as a child, I never had any trouble doing these things. Apparently, nothing has changed.)


I took my blood sugar reading and it was below 200 for the first time in over a week. Note that this is still high, but things are slowly improving. I'm on insulin now, so hopefully I will get the hang of all of this soon and the numbers will all pan out. My mom was up too and she made a nice breakfast of eggs, bacon, and biscuits. Very yummy.


After breakfast, my mom and I went to Walgreens around the corner. She needed a new battery for her blood glucose monitor (both of my parents are diabetic.) Once we walked around a bit, she realized that she had picked up my dad's talking meter (he went blind a year ago) instead of hers, so she left me at Walgreens to go back and get the other meter. While I was in Walgreens, I picked up some nifty light up Christmas earrings, some glittery eyeshadow, and a Branson magnet for my fridge. Score. It turns out that we had forgotten to pack the electric griddle at my mom's so we decided to go by Walmart to get another.


Branson has two Walmarts. The old one (it has no groceries) is closest to the condo so we went there. Mom got her battery and found an electric griddle for $18. I bought a butcher knife since the condo only has steak knives and it was a chore to chop onions with it last night. The cashier at Walmart gave me a strange look. I'm guessing that it was weird to just buy a big honking knife, and when I assured her I wasn't crazy or angry with anyone her expression did not change. Oh well.....


Next to Walmart was a Jubilee grocery store. My mom and I walked around picking up items for Thanksgiving. Mom usually does the cooking (and completely loves it I might add) but this year we are splitting up the work. My job is to make deviled eggs (I created the world's best recipe...everyone says so) and mashed potatoes. I found an easy and great recipe for the potatoes from an episode of Rachel Ray, so now I can contribute that as well. After the grocery store, we came back to the condo.


I took my sugar reading again, and it was lower than the morning but still pretty high. My lunch consisted of radishes, bell pepper, carrots, and celery with spinach/artichoke hummus for dip. After lunch, I took a nap. I love to nap. And napping on vacation is the best.


After my nap, I went and had a massage and facial. That was David's present to me. We are celebrating our sixteen wedding anniversary on Thursday. His sisters, Susan and Melissa, also got massages...for their birthdays. It was very lovely and now I feel much less stressed. But since I'm on vacation, I wasn't too stressed to begin with.


My brother made his famous cafe con leche and I had a cup of that after my niece Sable made a very tasty chicken enchilada casserole. I've now showered and will grade a few papers before I go to sleep. I have no idea what we are planning on doing tomorrow but since I'm on vacation, it doesn't matter. There aren't many times that I can do a whole lot of nothin.....this week, I'm hoping to become better at that.


Until tomorrow my friends....

Toodles!

Branson: Day 2

Hello faithful followers! (All 2 of you!)


So, here we are in Branson, Missouri. As I mentioned yesterday, my parents are celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary this week. They wanted some time with all the family together, so my brother and his family drove from Denver, and we met in the middle. All together, there are 12 of us. We are staying at a real nice condo, and since our party is so large, some are staying at another condo a mile or two away.


Our breakdown today....


First and foremost, breakfast. (I know it sounds like all I do is talk about food, but you have to admit that food, and good food, is awesome.) Since we didn't have any groceries here, we went out to eat. I suggested Cracker Barrel. I love that place. I ate two eggs over medium, 2 pieces of turkey sausage, a biscuit, and some hashbrown casserole. My blood sugar reading this morning was high, so I'm guessing that the Subway sandwich bread last night may not have been the best idea. After breakfast, the Denver crew came in from driving all night. We met at my mom's condo and made a list for the store.


My mom and I drove across town to this super huge Walmart. Our cashier told me that when it was built (and it looks pretty new) that it was the second largest Walmart in the country. I found some healthy snacks and much money later, we came back to the condo. David, Raelynn, and I walked over to a 50's diner and I had a chef's salad. We walked back to the condo and I managed to grade a set of papers. Yes, I brought papers to grade on vacation. They just don't grade themselves, you know. While I graded papers, my brother made me a cafe con leche. It almost made it painless.


Anyway, for dinner, my mom made chili which we used in a taco salad to cut down on the carbs. There was also rice to put the chili over but I resisted. I love rice and that was difficult. After supper, my niece Sable wanted to go to a place called Cakes and Cream. It's this great dessert parlor. David and I were going to walk while everyone else drove but after checking the weather, we decided to drive. I ended up getting a sugar free strawberry sundae. It was pretty good, but it didn't look nearly as tasty as David's funnel cake.


I'm really tired, but I wanted to update everyone on the exciting happenings. I know, doesn't sound too exciting, but when you live from stressful moment to stressful moment....calm and quiet days are a welcome surprise!!!!


Toodles!

Branson: Day 1

Hi Everyone!

It's been so long since I've blogged that it's completely possible that most of you don't know that I EVEN have a blog. The sad truth is that since we killed our land line, I've been relegated to posting from work. I'm not able to post on my phone. I know....this makes me sad too. But, I'm currently sitting in our condo in Branson with a full week off of work, so I'm at a "real" computer with no school work to distract me.

So....this coming week is my parents' 50th wedding anniversary. To celebrate, my brother, his wife, their daughter, her husband, their two boys, and David's sister (they all live in Denver) are meeting us in Branson. It's sort of a halfway point. It will be nice to see everyone. David and I are celebrating our 16th anniversary

Day one was basically us in the car all day. We stopped at a McDonald's for breakfast (I had a sausage McMuffin), Taco Bell for lunch (I had a #1 combo), and had Subway for dinner (six inch black forest ham on wheat.) Now.....David is teaching Raelynn how to play Scrabble, Dad is "watching" football on TV (he's blind so he really just listens), and Mom is taking her shower. So far a successful day.

For purposes of continuity, I'm not going to go off on a major tangent (I'm sure I have many blog posts just hovering near the surface) but I will tell you this.....

I was diagnosed with diabetes this week and the doctor has put me on insulin. No bueno. I'm sure I'll be sharing all those ups and downs as I figure this all out. Just saying I have diabetes makes me feel old. All I need now is a diagnosis of gout.

Anyway, I'm back. At least temporarily. And a little of me is better than no me so be happy.....

Toodles!

Sniff, Sniff....Hooray!

The little things in life matter. And really, isn't most of life "little things?" For some reason, lately I've been enamored with the scent of Gain laundry detergent. I've always been a fan and have recently used the fabric softener and dryer sheets with the same scent in conjunction with the Gain detergent. It's a good thing....and a good smell. And with all things good, isn't the concept of "more" better? (I tend to lean towards yes on this one....)


So you can imagine my excitement when perusing the evil empire, Walmart, I see that Gain also has dish detergent and has teamed up with Febreeze to make air fresheners (plug-in, spray, and an oil based one that diffuses)!!!!!! So of course I purchased them all and surrounded myself with all things Gain.


Since I spend most of my time as school, I took the plug-in air freshener to school. The oil based diffuser is in my kitchen and the spray is for the bathroom. For the rest of the day, I smiled at odd moments. Those joyous moments seemed to happen each time I passed by the plug-in, so I think I ended up walking fast circles around my classroom just to inhale the Gain freshness that I love. It was a good day....and it smelled good too. I find that a day is always better when the day smells good too.


Now I'm wondering if there are other small and inexpensive changes out there that can be significant enough to impact me in such a way. I'm sure there are and I know that I'll find them someday. I hope that it's someday soon and that I'll be sniffing Gain the whole time.


PS-On a lesser side note, I apologize again for my lack of blogging. We have gotten rid of our land line and are now completely cellular. I can read my blog from my phone, I just can't do the actual blogging from it. Getting the desktop computer ready to go online involves several steps so that's why I've been away. That...and my lack of time. But that's a different post for a different time.


Toodles!

Got Coupons? I Wish I Did.....

Hi Friends-


I'm back! It's been a day or two and I haven't blogged. Sorry about that. Sometimes life gets in the way. My family and I are preparing to go on a vacation early next week, so I'm letting you know now that I probably won't be blogging during that time. Hopefully, I will have lots of things to blog about once I get home.


So on to tonight's blog topic: extreme couponing. Have you ever seen the show Extreme Couponing on TLC? It's one of my new favorites. It comes on Wednesday nights at 8 central time in case you want to check it out. The premise is pretty straight forward. Each show highlights two individuals and follows them through a shopping excursion. During this time, they interview the person in their home, show them clipping coupons, and them showing off their stockpiles of stuff. Let's not confuse these people with hoarders. That's a completely different show. Just as engaging but totally different. I find the idea of extreme couponing very interesting.


Who doesn't like to save money, right? As a kid, I can remember my mom clipping coupons and using them at the store. I hated going to the grocery store. My daughter....she loves it. This could be due to the fact that I'm a bigger push-over than my mom was and Raelynn gets to pick out stuff to put in the cart. That fact aside, I don't mind going to the store. I usually go once a week. My church has it's large, weekly service on Saturday nights so I try to go grocery shopping on Sunday mornings when everyone else is at church. (Side note: When I bump into people that I know at the store during these Sunday morning trips, I start to feel guilty. Like maybe they think that I don't go to church. I always try to work this into the conversation. It never occurs to me that they aren't in church either so I shouldn't worry about it.) On occasion, I use coupons when I shop, but find that I can't always coordinate using the coupon before it expires. Most coupons that I see are for things I wouldn't use anyway. Of course, this was all before I saw the show on extreme couponing.


These people are DEDICATED. Most of them go to stores that double coupons, have member bonus cards, and take advantage of all the sale prices. Most of these people don't work for a living, but spend over 40 hours a week searching for coupons, printing coupons, clipping coupons, organizing coupons, and scouting the stores for sales and whatnot. This is where my problem starts. I do have a store that double coupons up to sixty cents (no it isn't the evil Walmart that I shop at) and has member cards that give you some discounts. I think I could even look through all the sales fliers and do multiple sweeps of the store to record sales that aren't listed. My major problem is getting the coupons to begin with.


I don't subscribe to the newspaper. My mother does. I could always get her inserts but these people on the show have a TON of coupons. Multiple inserts and from different papers. On the show I saw tonight, some woman bought an insane number of yogurt cups. Like over 500. I think she may have gotten them free using her coupons in conjunction with the sale going on in the store. Where does she get all those coupons? It boggles the mind.


David says another problem we'd have if I took up this hobby is storage space. I don't have a garage or basement, so we'd probably have to build on to our house in order to store everything. According to these people, they save enough money each year that they could probably build on to their house without paying much. Somehow I don't see myself this fortunate.


It really looks like these people spend a huge amount of time planning and organizing everything. They have these huge binders with special pages inside to hold all their coupons where you can see them all. I think I remember one of those shows where they said that the lady's coupon binder weighed like 20 pounds or something. I don't know about you, but the thought of organizing all that sounds like fun. I like organizing stuff. (For those of you that know me in real life may argue with that fact, but I find that when I'm not working I enjoy cleaning and organizing stuff.) Knowing myself though, I can tell you that I'd end up going all OCD on that stuff. That's just how I roll. Go big or go home.


So....I'm preparing to leave for my trip and will have to do more research on extreme couponing when I get home. If you have any advice, tips, or inserts you'd like to share, let me know. I'm already anticipating all the fun I'm going to have clipping and organizing during this endeavor...because hey...who doesn't love buying 500 cups of yogurt, right? Doesn't that sound like fun to you?


Until tomorrow (hopefully)....Toodles!

Pajama Jeans.....It's So Fun To Say!

OPENING DISCLAIMER: The post you are about to read is about the ever popular "Pajama Jeans." I don't own a pair and know of no one who owns a pair, so if you are wearing a pair while reading this, please leave me a comment letting me know your feelings on the subject!




Hi Friends-

As I promised, I am blogging today. You'd think that with summers off, I'd have more time to blog and do things I like such as eating ice cream and watching TV. Well, that's not really true. I have found time this summer to eat ice cream and watch TV. Blogging...well....I'm working on doing that more often too.


So today's topic is a strange one: Pajama Jeans. Have you seen these things advertised on TV? They have their own infomercial that plays all hours of the day and night. Do I own a pair of these magic pants? Heck no! For those of you that haven't seen this infomercial, I'm sure you can find it on You Tube. I'm guessing you have other things worth your time, so if you're not aware of these wonder pants, let me break it down for you.


These pants are supposed to be as comfortable as pajama pants while looking like high-end blue jeans. And if you listen to the infomercial and believe what they tell you, every women looks great in these pants. Really? Then how come there aren't any fat chicks in the commercials? The people they have pimping out these pants would look good wearing a burlap sack. I'm betting we'll be seeing an ad for these soon...."Burlap pajama pants! Look rustic while you sleep and since you'll be asleep it won't matter that the burlap itches!"


But really, I got a look at the box the other day at Walmart. There's this shelf next to one of the registers that has stuff you can find advertised only on TV. I get really skeptical of anything said to be only found on TV. These people must not have heard of the Internet. But it must work, because I feel confident that someone, somewhere ordered them and it was popular enough to find its way to Walmart.


Now the fine people at Walmart don't like it when you open packages, so I didn't get to pull a pair out and look at them. They did have a hole on the front of the box where they encourage you to feel how soft the material is. Feeling how soft something is isn't enough reason for me to buy it. If it's something I will be wearing, I'll need to try it on. And I'm not about to go up to the crabby lady at the fitting rooms and ask her to open the package for me so I can try them on. That just ain't happenin'. I guess I'm pretty skeptical about stuff like this that you see on TV, especially stuff that you wear. You'll never find me wearing the Kymaro Body Shaper. (It's basically the TV version of Spanx.) Again, you won't sell me something that supposed to look good on everybody until I see it on EVERY BODY type out there. Get some real women on there to show how goofy their product looks.


So why even waste my time (and yours) by blogging about something that I obviously don't like? It's because the name "Pajama Jeans" just rolls off the tongue and sounds fun to say. Try saying it a few times really quickly---- I'm sure you don't believe me, but it'll be like when someone sings an odd song and it gets stuck in your head. I'm happy to report that I was able to do just that with to some co-workers in regards to Rebecca Black's song "Friday." It's just so bad that it's good. Be aware of yourself after reading this post....I'm betting you'll find yourself saying "Pajama Jeans" "Pajama Jeans" "Pajama Jeans" and smiling. I know it makes me smile to say it. And I'd smile even bigger if I actually saw someone wearing them.....either that or the above mentioned burlap pajama pants. I think both would be a pretty funny sight....Don't you think so too?


Until tomorrow (hopefully)....Toodles!