Rock City

I just love this natural shot, don't you? I especially love the natural electric cord coming from the natrual rock formation don't you???

















Mushroom Rock. I thought we missed it until I was reviewing these pictures this week! haha!!
We were too busy planning crazy photo ops and trying to get the groups of people behind us to go on ahead. They wouldn't go so we employed them to take pictures of us.















This is totally how she looked. Honest. This is not a fake picture.






















This is Fat Man's Squeeze...right before I got the Yelling Fraidy Cat Man back for scaring the life out of me. ;o)















I couldn't believe my luck! I caught her just as she fell down. See? I told you it was the Gobhole Phenomenon! And look! She saved the camera!!! ( I guess she has fallen down enough she is a pro.)

For some reason this was a delayed reaction for me. I had to read it three times before I got it.

Why Terry Cloth Shorts Should Be Banned

This is the meanest thing I have ever done to a stranger.

Oh Lonesome Me

*Oh lonesome Me*

Uncle Joe, Carly and CassiJo have gone on a little trip with G-Mom for one last HooHa before school starts this week. (a hooha is Oklahoma talk for a fun trip) They went to Fort Smith Arkansas for a few days to west and wewax. They are staying in a hotel with an indoor pool....every kids delight.

That leaves me with a lot of free time.

I am not used to free time.

I have been a busy bee since I got off work about 6pm. I went to our old house and loaded down my car with stuff to bring over, watered the Cherokee Purple Tomatoes, almost had a heat stroke, got stopped by a 300 car train on the busiest street in Muskogee on the way to Staples for office supplies. I ran into one of my favorite cousins and had a good laugh in the parking lot talking about our kids. He has two boys and we of course have two girls....so we have lots to laugh at! We get so tickled at each other we are crying with laughter before we leave each other. (We are pretty close...our moms are twins!)

I got what I needed at Staples which included some buble' wrap to mail a surprise to someone, and some items from the sale rack. (did you think the link was going to reveal the recipient?haha!)

Dad called on my way home and we loaded up the computer desk he built for us this weekend. (All this and I still haven't made it home to change clothes and I am sweatin up a storm by now in my black pants and long sleeved shirt!)

I ate some yummy left over lasagna from Lunch with The Aukerman's and sat down at the computer for a game of Scrabble.

There we dirty dishes calling my name so I hushed them up and got them all nice and squeaky clean and put away in their homes, and even relocated a few to a nicer, more convenient neighborhood in my kitchen.

I chatted on the phone with her and her ,and now I am getting sleepy. I have had a very productive evening. I just hope I sleep well. Sometimes when I am alone, I don't sleep well, but tonight I think I have worn myself out.

I have been laughing at the cat, Charlie "White Sox" Pesednick tonight. He has been pawing at the computer screen as I type. He sees the letters and the cursor moving and keeps jumping up there to attack them. :o) I think he might miss Carly and Uncle Joe. They are his favorite humans. He doesn't like me or Cassidy too much. He scratches us alot. I especially love it when he claws my feet when he is hiding under the bed, or comes into the bedroom early in the morning and scratches me on the face. I don't understand why he does that. I love him and love to pet and love on him! Maybe I smell funny or something. hmmmm

*Yawn*

Good night Bloggers!

PS: Stay tuned for more Gobhole Adventure pictures.........

Chocolate Heaven on a Stick

This is a "Snickers Caramel Apple" it was like Heaven on a stick. It was a Granny Smith apple (the best kind!) covered in caramel, rolled in peanuts and drizzled with chocolate. If you ever see one of these in the mall where you are shopping, run to it! Buy it and dig your teeth into it and be happy God made apples for us to slather with caramel.

Gobhole Underpass

Here is one of the rock formations we encountered at Rock City. Left click on picture if you can't read the sign.

Do you know Susie like I know Susie?

I was so worried about The Gobhole Girl coming to my home. I was afraid that we would pick up this creature at the airport that had a little cloud over her head. I was so pleasantly surprised. What came out of the terminal was a brightly colored gal with a bright smile and a boy in tow.

Here are some tips and observations should The Gobhole Girl ever decide to visit you.

1. she is not a morning person. do not speak until spoken to, usually after a few slurps of coffee.

2. she loves coffee in copious amounts. keep lots on hand. buy a starbux franchise.

3. she needs her lip gloss/stick available to her at all times and applies it frequently.

4. she does spill things often. have papertowels or other absorbant material on hand.

5. her hair is fabulous, don't be jealous.

6. her feet stink. i did not smell them but she told me she could. i just trusted her on this one. (mine however did not as i sprayed them with deo! haha)

7. she is prepared for any toiletry emergency. she has anything and everything you could possibly need or ever want in the way of toiletries. (Granny you will be happy to know we kiped all the samples we could for you!)

8. she eats like a bird. we finally figured out we should share meals and she still only ate half. there must be tons of take out boxes at their house.

9. we noticed a lot of the same things. the only difference was that she said it out loud. we saw several sights and looked at each other and laughed because we knew what we were thinking. (eg: Shoe Hangage....your feet should NOT overhang any where on your sandals. Your sandals should not make any noises while you walk....we were behind a woman whose sandals were blowing air everytime she walked. )

10. we are both note takers. we both have large amounts of notes from the lessons we had. we could probably reinact the lesson for you should that need arise. (please email me for fees)

11. never assume that anything hanging out of your nose, stuck in your teeth, in your hair or on your clothes will go unnoticed. she will notice and she will tell you. that is the sign of a true friend.

12. she is a very passionate person, especially where she sees injustice.

13. we both drive with our hands at 10 & 2. if you don't know what that means then go back to drivers ed. it is the correct way to do it, and that's all there is to it.

14. she has intestnal problems. let's just leave it at that. you want the truth?? YOU CAN'T HANDLE THE TRUTH!!

15. she can sniff out a bargain in all retail shop

16. she is a great problem solver

17. her list of things she noticed me will exceed this list by far.

18. she only drinks Pepsi. from bottles in cups of ice.


Let me also warn you that the Gobhole Phenomenon is contagious and totally transferrable.
Since we have been together I have tripped on more things than I ever have in my life.
I have managed to hit my body parts on more stationary objects than ever before. This would include a zillion pound rock and walls of all sorts.
I ran into three displays at the grocery store just yesterday.
We ate supper at Fazoli's Saturday night and while she managed to keep herself clean I left with spaghetti sauce all over me! (including my pants!)
We were nearly run off the road. Our short cut road just ended abruptly for no reason.
We received the worst service in every restaurant we went to, including being over charged. (This is a new thing for me as Joe and I usually receive great service!)

Hopefully the effects of this phenomenon will fade as they travel back to Idaho today. I may bump into a few things today in her honor.

Thank you Gobhole Girl (and Dyl) for coming to our home and sharing a week of our life.

Day Duh and Tree

We somehow managed to get to the conference just as the first speaker was starting every day. I will count that as a blessing. I (and Susie I believe) would not have wanted to be in that hall with 4,000 women buzzing around. It gave me a bit of claustrophobia, and I could not help staring at everyones shoes.

Day Two we got to hear two new speakers: Jan Silvious and Donna Otto. Both these women were very funny and gave us a wonderful lesson. They both had books for sale in the "bookstore" but we did not buy any. I will be checking some of them out in our local library.

We had a long lunch break and decided to walk downtown for some lunch again. Did you know that on Saturdays that a lot of the downtown merchants close?? We didn't. There was a young woman outside the conference center handing out flyers advertising free cookies to conference attendees so we (of course...who is going to turn down free cookies?) headed down there. We located the deli quickly as we had seen it the previous day but decided to walk around a bit and just survey our choices. There were not other choices so we walked back to The Steamboat Deli where we were treated to a local who blurted out a very politically incorrect statement that I won't even repeat. We just looked at each other and inched as close as we could to the entrance of the deli. (for a quite yummy lunch I might add)

We had some time later to do some shopping at a HUGE mall near the conference and had a ball shopping for our family. I found Joe a cute shirt with a jazzy fellow running that says "Cuppa Joe on the go" Susie sniffed that one out for me. I missed it. I repaid the favor when I sniffed out a couple of Calvin and Hobbes books on Clarence's Rack at Barnes and Noble later. Why is it I could find all kinds of things for my family but had the hardest time finding something for myself. I hate that. Oh well, it gives me another reason to do some shopping TODAY! haha)

After a late supper...come to think of it all our suppers were late (We were having some difficulty with the time difference) we went back home to blog a bit and to bed. You know we didn't turn the TV on once while we were attending this conference?

Day Tree was very short, and actually more of the same with one difference. We discovered there were RECLINERS in the bookstore. They had a video feed in there so we got to listen to the last round of speakers in style!

All in all it was a good conference. The speakers were very inspiring women of God. You can tell by the way they act and speak that they are very intelligent and very in love with our Most Awesome God. We both came away inspired and challenged to make changes in our lives....ones that will continue to feed us and help us feed others by the word of God.

One thing that Kay Arthur said was that we are like a precious jewel in the hand of God. Can things still get to us? Yes. She points to the cracks in her fingers. BUT remember ladies that nothing can get to you without first having been filtered through LOVE. It has to pass through the hands of God before it gets to you.

If you ever get the awesome chance to go to a conference like this by all means go. It was so awesome being in a room with 4,000 women who love God and were there to learn and grow.

~AJ

Day One

1. The first day of the conference was wonderful. The speakers were great and we spent a lot of the day hearing some of the wonderful Christian ladies I have heard on the radio: Janet Parshall and Kay Arthur. The other speakers are ones that I have never heard of but were great, save one, who was too loud and we politely ducked out for a break during her rousing lesson. (We could hear her lesson on the speakers outside in the foyer so we didn't miss anything but the loudness of it.)
   
   Let me give you a run down of the Idiot things that happened today:
   1. we didn't judge our travel time well enough and were late
   2. we had to park in the highest level of the parking garage
   3. there were no "edge" seats in the place and we had to crawl over people to sit down.
   4. we both forgot to pack our Bibles and gladly bought ourselves new ones in the book store. :o)
   5. both meals we had today were served by the two slowest waitresses in the nation, but we were nice and tipped them anyway. (our tip was, "Don't eat yellow snow.")
   6. we, along with 20 other women took over the men's restroom when the line to the ladies was too long.
   7. when we left to come back home we were almost run off the road by a crazy driver passing us on the RIGHT hand side of the road, scaring us half to death.
   8. the key to our room was deactivated when we got back from the last speaker 9. barnes and nobel closed and we didn't get through smelling the books. (heehee!)
   
   I think these are all a result of the "gobhole phenomenon".
   
   Truthfully, we are having a good time and enjoying the teaching we are hearing and just looking foward to hearing from God.
   
   Here are some pictures to look at:
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   here is Susie at her favorite purveyor of coffee beverages: Starbucks. It was in the swanky hotel where we had a $9.00 club sandwich.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   We had a much better supper at Cracker Barrel, as you can see it was teeth pickin'good. I just love those rockers on the front porch. It was here she tasted her first fried okra. We had fun shopping in the store for the kids. Didja know they will ship stuff home for you? Cool huh? That way you don't have to lug it home.
   

Gobhole Adventure in Oklahoma

The adventure has begun y'all!

Susie and Dylan arrived safely in the state of Oklahoma last night about 9:30pm. We arrived a little early at the airport and it was the longest wait of our little girl's lives! They asked every few minutes, "How much longer Mom/Dad? Are they here yet?"

We spotted them way off down the hall and recognized everyone immediately. We had made signs to welcome them and even had someone come up and ask to see who we were meeting when they walked up- I guess they had no idea what a Gobhole Girl was. (who would?)

Susie has a beautiful smile and is more beatiful in person. Dyl wasn't a bit shy and will fit right in with the Goofballs at our house! (ie Carly and CassiJo) He fit in so well that they all had to be paid a dollar to be quiet on the way home from Tulsa. It was the hardest dollar Carly ever earned and Cassi fell asleep so it was the easiest for her! :o) Heehee!

We made it home after a snack at McDonald's and visited a little while until everyone got sleepy.

They are still snoozing because their bodies are still on Idaho time......two hours behind us. Our girls are up and wanting to play.

Good morning and let the games begin!! :o)

PS Note to self: ALWAYS CARRY EXTRA CAMERA BATTERIES! (i did it again......the batteries died right before they got here)

Gobhole Day

Today is finally here!! The Joe family has been anticipating this day for months and months and it has finally arrived.

Susie will arrive in Oklahoma this evening and we will begin a 6 day Gobhole Adventure! I am anticipating lots of fun, maybe a fall-down or two, laughing til my gut hurts and maybe some odd people watching.

Please pray for their safe arrival and return trip........

More to come

PS We are moved!! Well mostly moved.......pics to follow

The Graduate and The Girl

Proud parents of the graduate.....the KINDERGARTEN graduate.
















CassiJo waiting for her big moment to cross the stage.

Things have been so hectic around here I failed to get CassiJo's graduation pix posted more timely. Here she is in all her kindergarten glory. By the way, she is very smart and knows a lot of stuff. If you have any questions about life or candy you need answered please leave them in the comment section.

Breaking news: she is learning that she is FINALLY big enough to ride her big girl bike. It had been too tall the last few times she tried to ride it, but with the growth spurt she has had, she can finally touch the ground. (No training wheels either!)

Here is our 5th grade graduate. She will be attending Middle School when we move next month. She is a little nervous but has learned that some of her friends from her old school have also moved to our new town.

Our new neighbors have 3 young boys (and one more on the way) so hopefully CarlyJo will have lots of opportunities to babysit. She has been working really hard with Papa (my dad) mowing and helping him so she can earn enough money to buy an ipod or shuffle thingy. I am very proud of her for sticking with it. (It also helps that Papa is keeping the money til she has enought....that way she is not tempted to spend it. haha!)

Bloggers Meet Part Duh

Peanut Snail Rescuer! She wanted to take them home but Mom said no.
















Peanut's first bite of Sam & Ella's great pizza. Stretching that cheez to its limit!
















Bloggers Unite: Aunt Josefina (yes my hair is a reddish color! Note to self: don't try a new hair color while your hubby is napping. It disorients them.) Leslee and Uncle Joe
















Peanut "fell" in the Town Branch where we were playing. (I think she did it on purpose to get wet!)




















Lesee and CarlyJo cooling off in the Town Branch

As you can see we had a great time. The children got along wonderfully and I was so nervous I chattered the whole time and Leslee could barely get a word in edge wise. We laughed so much my mouth hurt when we left. :o) That is a good thing!

There were some interesting folks there too. I'll direct you to Leslee's blog to read about them.

We left after about 3 1/2 hours of fun and promised we would do it again soon.

Thank you Leslee for making time to play with us. We had a great time and we look forward to seeing you and Peanut (and maybe Nickel next time) again soon.

Bloggers Meet

Tonight The Joe family will embark on a new adventure. We will meet our blogger friend, Leslee. Her family lives in a nearby town and we are meeting at the best pizza joint in Green Country, Sam & Ellas. (I am looking forward to that Rock Island Red pizza almost as much as I am looking forward to meeting her and Peanut. :o)Pictures will abound.I wonder what her voice sounds like?I wonder if our daughters will get along?I wonder how tall she is?Will I recognize her?If I have spinach in my teeth will she tell me?

Tank You!

Thanks to Uncle Joe for giving me some linkies on the side bar. I have been whining wanting him to help me do it for a long time. :o)

Booger Dood

Today I got a call from the owner of a large company responding to a fax I sent him requesting assistance in clearing a balance on an account. He wanted to come by and meet with me and discuss the issue in person. I invited him to come on down and I would make time to talk to him.

He arrived and we began to discuss said account. I looked up from my seat and in his nose was the biggest booger hanging out I had ever seen. I had to force myself not to look at it and only look at his eyes. It was the hardest thing I did all day.

Now, why couldn't I just say, "Here you need a tissue." and go on? I don't know. I was too embarrassed. Yet the embarrassment he will feel when he realizes the booger was there the entire time he was talking to me might be greater than what he would have felt if I just pointed it out to him.

So my questions to you today are:
1. Is it wrong to NOT point out that someone has a disgusting booger hanging out of their nose?
2. What is the nicest way to point out said booger?
3. What would you want someone to do?

Untitled Post

I just want to see where my thoughts take me today. I usually don't like to post unless I have something funny or half-way intelligent to say, but today I just want to follow the train of thoughts as they hit me. Buckle your seat belts, I think we may be in for a bumpy ride and we may even get lost a time or two. :o)

Today my day started off with a woman in my bubble (my personal space) with the worst breath I have ever smelled on a woman. This woman is a prominent banker in our town and her breath made me gag. I kid you not. I could not believe that she talked to clients all day with the funk that was coming out of her mouth.

Still packing. Slowly packing. Cassidy is at VBS at the new church (at what point I will call it just 'our church' i don't know) I should be in there packing more but I am taking a blogging break on the front porch while I wait for her to be brought home. The quiet is kind of nice. Carly didn't want to to go to VBS so she is working folding laundry, and has completed her Carly-Do list for today. Good job Carly!

Carly mowed the lawn for me. (it is my therapy but I will share once in a while) I only wish we had a weedeater that I could use. I would love for my lawn to have edging....but alas......it just has 'yard bangs'. I think Joe told me we have one but I don't know how to use it. It is gas and probably needs 'something' to make it work. It may even belong to Jory-San....I don't even know.

The other day, yesterday I walked outside at work and heard the strangest bird song I have ever heard. I stopped and listened to it for a long time and just smiled. It sounded like someone whistling, not like a bird song at all. I looked around to make sure some tricky person wasn't trying to fool me and it happened again when I was leaving. I just smiled and went on......

Muskogee finally got a Quiznos opened up a couple of weeks ago. We walked in one night after church and it turned out it was their first day. They were very nice and let us eat inside even though they were closing in 10 minutes. My Cabo Chicken sandwich was very tasty and very spicy:o)

I went to Waldenbooks tonight to buy a gift for friend at work. I bought 4 and got 1 free from Clarence's Rack. I just love him!! I bought a Toni Morrison book called Love. I have always wanted to read some of her work and this was a perfect opportunity. I also found Carly, my arteest daughter, an drawing instruction book so when she reads this she will have to ask me for it. :o) heehee I resisted going to do any more shopping in the mall even though Twisted Joe's was right next door to Waldenbooks and they had just made some fresh pretzels and they smelled SO good and I was SO hungry!

Cassidy was just dropped off by my cousin, Renita and her son Blake. Blake is almost 6 and is Batman Jr. to Uncle Joe's Batman Sr. They ALWAYS talk shop when they are together. It is very sweet. I tried 3 times to download a picture but I can't get it to work. Shoot.

OK we need input. We are trying to choose colors for our new bedroom. I am up for anything. I put up some swatches of colors I like......soft yellow (not pastel...the popular butter cream colors) and even considered 'roasted coffee' brown. We don't have to match anything because we are getting new comforter stuff when we move in. We don't really have a style in our room either so we are just a blank slate waiting for inspiration. Whadda ya got Bloggers?

I am really craving some chocolate ice cream right now. A soft-serve cone from Beacon sounds so good. I wonder if I can sneak off and have one all to myself??

Joe and the girls tried to go to a free movie at the theater at the mall, but didn't make it. They went to see "Over the Hedge" in stead. I haven't heard if they liked it. I was wishin' I could have gone too.

Oh yea! I got a post card from Nerdine! She is in Bath and is having a WONDERFUL time! No schedule....stopping when they want, doing what they want. Most excellent holiday!!

Well That is about all I will bore you with tonight. My battery on my lap top is about to start blinking for more juice.......

Good night~

Skid marks

One day this week Joe and I were sitting on the porch admiring our baby girl riding her bike all over the yard and driveway. Cassidy has recently rediscovered her big-girl bike and has had fun riding every where we will let her.

She was riding fast on the concrete drive way and stopped suddenly and left skid marks behind her bike. Joe said, "You left skid marks!"

She turned around as far as she could to check the back of her pants.

We almost fell off the porch laughing.

Happy Fodders Day

To Joe:

Happy Fathers Day

A father of two girls is a special Dad.
You have a gift of tender words for your girls.
You take time to color with them and read to them.
You take time to make up "stories from your mouth" at bed time.
You are playful with them and firm when the need arises.
They see you love their mother and make me laugh and make me happy.

Thank you for all you do in our family.
You are the motivator
the instigator
the navigator
the spankinator (although sometimes it is just a love pat!)

We are thankful to have you, Our Superhero with us every day.

Love,
AJ

Our Budding Arteeeest

A sample of art by CarlyJo.......















Our oldest daughter, CarlyJo has (and her best cousin Elle) have been Art students of a local artist, Mrs. Bishop for about 3 years or so. CarlyJo attends art class one day a week after school. This little girl exudes art. She cannot be near a blank page and not doodle or draw on it. I think it's neat and would love to see her have a life long love affair with art. I think she is on her way. Here is a sampling of their art for this year. Mrs. Bishop did a study of the Masters this year and the students imitated them. We are very proud of you CarlyJoe and Elle!

The Smeller's The Feller

Today I was walking behind an older gentleman . He had obviously forgotten he put on his cologne and reapplied it. He smelled good, but I was walking 8-10 feet behind him and still could smell it. I had a whole string of thoughts about the smell, wondering what it was because it smelled familiar. Once I walked throught the waiting room at work and got a whiff of an unusual scent. It was what Joe wore when we were dating and first married: Joop by Homme. It stopped me in my tracks and I turned around and looked for Joe. Sadly it wasn't my honey trying to sneak up on me. It was also very odd to smell it on someone else that was totally opposite of Joe. Joe wears cologne so lightly I have to be within his arms reach to smell it.....nice for AJ no??;o)

Isn't it odd how smells can transport you back to a time and place in an instant? (sometimes good sometimes bad) For instance: the smell of cinnamon/apple takes me to Christmas at my Aunt Joyce's house, lilac reminds me of my Nan, saw dust makes me think of my father (he has a woodshop) and sweet pea makes me think of CarlyJo. Old book smell reminds me of one of my Great Aunts. The smell of mentholatum takes me back to childhood....rubbing it on my upper lip when I had a stuffy nose. I saw some Prell shampoo the other day and had to take a whiff. Anyone remember Agree??

I think it is awesome that God made such a strong memory cue in our noses. He is so awesome isn't he?

What smells affect you? (i hope i used that word right) What memories to they invoke??

Cocoa Gravy

Leslee read my last post and wondered what Cocoa Gravy was and wanted to know more about it. I thought I would share this wonderful concoction with you. Your kids will love you for it. :o)

Cocoa Gravy is something my mother has cooked for us as long as I can remember. Her mother cooked it for her (and her 10 brothers and sisiters) and I ocassionally cook it for my girls. It is like slightly thinned pie filling or pudding and just so good. I don't know where it originated but there are recipes for it in all the church cookbooks in our area. They each vary a little but the end result is the same. When I first made it for CarlyJo she called it To-To Dravy, and that is what we actually call it around our house :o)

Cocoa Gravy/Chocolate Gravy/ToTo Dravy

1/4 c. sugar
1 T cocoa
2 T flour
1 c. milk (i make mine with skim)
1T margarine or butter

Stir sugar, cocoa and flour together in a sauce pan, gradually blend in milk. Cook over medium heat until thick, stirring constantly. Stir in margarine. Serve over biscuits or bread.
*you can also cook it in the microwave 2 minutes at a time until thick

Let me know if you try it. I am curious if anyone else has heard of it and cooks it?

Alpha Bits

I have been commanded by Susiebadoozie, fondly known as Badoozer to participate in her ABC meme.
Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you AJ's meme:

Accent: Australian (especially spoken by Hugh Jackman)

Bible Book that I like: Song of Solomon (don't laugh)

Chore I don't care for: putting away laundry. On the flip side I LOVE to mow the grass.

Dog or Cat: Dogs...big dogs like a Golden Lab.

Essential Electronics: laptop, alarm clock/radio

Favorite Cologne: for me: Chloe Innocence (Body spray: Vanilla sugar) For my Man: Obsession. An oldie but a goodie. I have no idea about the current fragrances.

Gold or Silver: Depends. for rings: gold and Necklaces: silver (yes i realize that doesn't match, get off my back) ditto for me too...Back off Jack!

Handbag I Carry Most Often: I just got a new one from Walmart. It is army green with paislies on it. Not exactly what I would choose for myself but I was trying to get away from black....what i have carried for over a year.

Insomnia: sometimes. I take Valarian Root for it though and slip right of into Slumberland

Job Title: QueenBee

Kids: qty: Two daughters age 11 and 6. They drive me batty sometimes, but I love 'em.

Living Arrangements: Married with children....walking around a lot of boxes right now too

Most Admirable Trait: Compassion

Naughtiest Childhood Behavior: I was not naughty. :o) heehee

Overnight Hospital Stays: Two children whose exit from my body caused considerable pain scored me a few nights in the hospital.

Phobias: Finding SPAM in my muffins.

Quote: You just hide and watch. (courtesy of my mother who said it all the time to us)

Religion: Christian

Siblings: two younger brothers ( I have been QueenBee my whole life)

Time I Wake Up: usually 6-ish or whenever the snorker wakes me up (snork is the new snore sound Joe makes at night.)

Unusual Talent or Skill: I can tie a cherry stem in a knot with my tongue.

Vegetable I Refuse to Eat: CELERY

Worst Habit: peeling the top off pizza when I eat it (yes, even Sam & Ellas!)

X-rays: three. broken wrist, broken leg, broken arm (all before age 8)

Yummy Stuff I Cook: boiled water, toast, cereal. haha not really. Cocoa Gravy, Choc Chip Cookies, Lasagna, Egg rolls, brownies, mushroom casserole, chili with beans, tater salad:o) I am not saying that I cook these things all the time. I am just saying I am good at them.

Zoo Animal I Like Most : Tigers

Tagging:
Uncle Joe: if Susie didn't already
Ted: C'mon Ted......
ANP: does she still read?

Bizzy Bees

I thought I had better post something so you all wouldn't think we were in-hiding or something.....

We have been busy with lots of stuff lately. What you might ask??

Dance recitals-CassiJo had hers last Saturday night. Her class was dressed in the cutest costumes. She had a light blue pinafore dress over a white body suit (all very sparkley of course) The teacher wanted everyone's hair in an up-do, but I can't stand to see little baby girls with grown-up hair do's and all that makeup, so we just put her hair in braids. She looked like Dorothy from Wizard of Oz. Now we must find some ruby red slippers and she has a Halloween costume too! :o)

Garden-Uncle Joe has sprouted a green arm! He has planted a garden in our back yard and has been nursing it day and night. We have tomatoes, grapes, peppers, dill, cilantro, chives, green beans, cucumbers and various flowers planted. He has worked really hard on it and it looks fabulous. I can't wait for some cucumbers and fresh green beans! He has a patio umbrella set up so he can sit in the shade and rest after working too. It is a nice place to go and visit while the girls play in the pool or in the house. :o)

Packing- great news! For those who don't know, my late grandmother's house has been offered to us at a deal that is too good to turn down, so we are moving to Fort Gibson, about 10 miles away from our current home. The house is considerably newer than our current home and seems to be a little larger. (I haven't looked at the exact square footage....it doesn't really matter at this point!) The house was built (by my father) in 1983 and is a very sound home. It is plain but pretty. There will be a few repairs that need to be done, but those will be done by me and my fatherand mother. We will be able to re-paint the interior to suit us and buy some new carpet too. We are thrilled beyond words that my family is doing this for us. We are a little nervous about being back in Fort Gibson....we are used to being right in the middle of Muskogee and running here and there on a whim. It will be a nice change to be in a quiet neighborhood with children. CarlyJo and CassiJo won't know what to think with other children to play with. We have been in our current home for 10 years and there are no children for them to play with! When we move there are several families that have children, so that will be great!

So in light of our move, we also have to get our house prepared to sell.Which will include some repairs, painting, recarpeting and a MAJOR MONDO GINORMOUS GARAGE SALE! I don't want to pack up all this stuff we have accumulated. (I know Joe will blame me for it, but he was there too!! haha) We have already packed a few boxes and haven't made a dent. Our new motto? PURGE!! PURGE!!

Van- we have a van that has been ummm.....dormant for about 5 years and we decided to try and fire it up and see if we could get it in some sort of shape to either drive or sell. Ted, our friend and jack-of-all-trades came and helped Joe get it started and is still working on getting it in tip-top shape. Once we determine if the AC is going to work or not we will decide to keep it and let Joe and the girls toodle around town in it or sell it.

VBS-the girls have been in VBS all week with Nana (my mother) in Fort Gibson. I wanted them to be able to make some friends that they will see when they start school in August. Carly has been particularly nervous as she will start 6th grade, which is Middle School in Ft. Gibson. She has made some new friends and told me last night that she isn't as nervous as she was about going to MS. (Whew! it worked!) They had their program to sing the parent's all the songs they learned during the week and I got misty watching my babies up there. God is so good to me.

Life- it is amazing how much we can find to do outside in the evenings. it is great to spend time with the family doing stuff around the house. the girls are getting along fairly well so far...but then again it is only the second week of summer vacation! We hardly turn on the television any more and I LOVE THAT!

Reading- Susie, Emma and I started a book blog...you can see the link to the right. I read Memoirs of a Geisha and Idiot Girl's Action Adventure Club and had a good time! I finished the Geisha book and ran to Blockbuster within 30 minutes and rented the movie. We watched it with Ted and his wife last week and it was good! I recommend reading the book BEFORE seeing them movie. The movie would have been hard to follow without the insight that the book offered. I am looking forward to our next book on the book blog. I actually made time to read, but then again I was totally hooked on the Geisha book from the first page.

Music- Uncle Joe finished his tour for the 1st half of the year last night at the Relay for Life here in Muskogee. The band members are all pretty busy with this or that this summer so they will take the rest of the summer off and enjoy it.

Me you ask? I have just been busy being QueenBee. :o)

So, what have you been up to??

See, it IS all about me!

It's All About Me

A Meme

by Aunt Josefina

tagged by Susiebadoozie

I AM: a woman, a wife, a mother, a daughter, a sister, a friend, a child of God

I WANT: breakfast in bed somday

I WISH: my daughters would get a long

I HATE: creepy men, people invading my personal space, mean people, SPAM, celery

I MISS: playing soft ball

I HEAR: the sound of laughter, Joe's hiccups

I WONDER: what makes hiccups stop

I REGRET: not buying stock in Microsoft, not really.

I AM NOT: a skinny woman

I DANCE: the cha-cha with Joe and make him laugh.

I CRY: very easily...when my feelers are hurt, when I see my children or husband hurt, when your feelers are hurt.

I AM NOT ALWAYS: focused....i get scatter-brained pretty easily (but at least I can laugh about it!)

I MAKE WITH MY HANDS: good food, comforting touches, gifts

I WRITE: compulsively. i am a note taker. (May 27th, 2006, Joe squeezed and hurt my knee)

I CONFUSE: myself and others frequently and with ease. :o)

I NEED: words of encouragement and physical touches

I SHOULD: go to bed. i am so so tired

I START: things and sometimes don't finish them

I FINISH: other people's sentences and it annoys them

Tagging: CarlyJo, Uncle Joe and Ted, the non-bloggers with blogs

Happy Birthday Hummy

Happy Birthday to Joe!

Today is the day that Uncle Joe was brought into this world 46 short years ago.
( I should get his mother to guest host and tell the story!)

The world became a better place when you came into it.

Happy Birthday to you
Happy Birthday to you
Happy Birthday Deeeeaaaarrrr Joooooooe
Happy Birthday toooooooo yoooooooouuuuuu!
You look like a monkey
and you smell like one too.

Hope you are enjoying your present ;o)

I love you and hope your day is full of fun and love.
I will do my best to fill it with laughter.

Crossing things off my list

I almost forgot! I can cross "sing a special" off my 2006 Resolutions list found way back here. Uncle Joe, Shannon, Kerney and Kahuna were invited to sing at a Block Party for Shiloh Baptist Church last Saturday. One of our friends from church, Nate, is the pastor there.

We (me and the girls) arrived just as the band was setting up. It was very VERY hot and they were set up on a stage right in the sun. It was 1pm so the sun was beating down on them even then.

They sang about 4 songs and then Yours Truly was invited to the stage to sing the last song with them. I remember very little about it. I was very nervous and Shannon had to hum my harmony part to me before we started. I almost passed out. All I remember was Joe leaning over to me during my solo and saying, "Sing out Baby!" All in all I don't think we stunk it up too bad. (besides, everyone else was hot too, so they were a little delirious too.)

The set was over then and I had to get my overheated daughters out of there. Little Cassidy looked on the verge of heat stroke and Carly was hot too. She wore black gouchos, so you know she was hot. Joe came down and we poured water on his hot cranium and got him cooled off too. It was the hottest day of the year in the mid-day sun. The band wilted, but had a good time I believe. Kahuna said he could even see some people come out of their houses to listen to the music. I think they ran back inside when I sang though. Haha!

Oh BTW......someone in my house is having a birthday on Saturday. It's not me and not my daughters. Come back by and wish him a happy birthday.........

Summer is upon us, woe is Joe

The girls have 2 days left of school and then the torture of Dad begins. I have put out a distress call to all Aunts/Nanas/Gmoms/Pa-Pas/Papas/Uncles/Friends: please feel free to take one or both of the girls any time you want for as long as you want M-F 8am -5pm. Haha

Please keep them all in your prayers this summer. They are a handful and get so annoying with their fussing.

They have a few activities in the works, mainly some art classes for both the girls, which should be fun fun fun! There is also VBS to look forward to at Nana's church as well at our new church.

More updates as they develop. :o)

Me friend, Meow

Our good friend, Meow sent us a post card from waaay down under this week. It was hard to explain to CassiJo where exactly Australia is without a globe though!

Meow received our post card from Oklahoma this week too for her post card collection. I couldn't find any post cards quick enough to suit me so I made some letterhead with some Muskogee land marks for her, including the Okie from Muskogee logo.

Thanks for playing Meow. There is nothing like getting a little surprise in the mail box is there?? :o)

Jenn Cleaned Her Closet!

Jenn cleaned her closet, and since she has mucho arto stuff, she sent CarlyJo some neato magazines, instruction books, watercolor pencils and a bundle of Jenn original cards. There was also a spattering of silk flowers, a box of bobby pins, stickers, material, and some Disneyland Coffee for me and Joe to share as well as lots of matted prints.......very cool. CarlyJo was very excited and CassiJo can't wait to get her little paws on those watercolor pencils. We had to hide them quickly!

We were thrilled to get the box especially since we weren't expecting it. A very welcomed surprise from our new friend Jenn.

On behalf of the Joe Family, Tanks so much!!

'Nuther note to self

1. Never miss an opportunity to shut up
2. Listen to your first instinct (and repeat #1)

Note to self

Before going on a great field trip with lots of photo opportunities, check the batteries in the digital camera.

Missed photo ops:
1. Llama farm
2. Mini goat farm
3. Horses in the field with colts
4. Beeeyoooteeeful scenery at the lake
5. Pictures of me and Carly having a good time

I went on a field trip with CarlyJo's class to Marval Trout camp. It is an annual field trip for the 3rd, 4th and 5th grade classes. They let the kids run around, play all sorts of games and hike the nature trails. A good time was had by all. Thank God for the perfect weather.

Poor CassiJo's field trip to the Tulsa Zoo was cancelled not once but TWICE due to the rains we had last week and this week. We needed the rain so badly so it is hard to complain, but her little sad face almost broke my heart. We are now planning a family trip to the zoo with the tickets we received from the school.

With just two weeks lieft of school, the natives are getting restless........

Nerdine's Meme

I modified the list. I had done it wrong and had only words I could think of and not things I liked. There were words on there that I didn't like and I didn't want y'all to think I was a freaky deaky girl......

I am playing along with a game from Nerdine. She has assigned me the letter "G" and I am to list all the things I can think of beginning with the letter "G". Ok here Goes

God
Gobhole Girl
Gas (the car kind)
Girls (especially my own)
Gabrielle ( my brown-eyed niece)
Green
Guys (well mainly just one)
Games (Scrabble is my fave although Joe always beats me)
Gregariousness (is that a word)
Grass( i love to mow it)
Generosity (giving and receiving)
Going
Growing
Ginger
Gray
Greenbacks
Gladware
Glad trashbags
Giovanni Ribicci (is that right?)
George Clooney
Greg
Geese
G-Mom
GrandPat
Gargoyles
Goofy
Gross
Granny
Grandma
GEHA (government employees health association)
Get
Goat
Gloat
Glaze (carly is helping me and has come up with some good ones!! )
Go
Gone with The Wind (Can you believe I didn't see this til I was 23 years old?!)
Gevalia (coffee)
Good Value brand
Guys Potato Chips
Gumbey
Gum
Gummie Bears/worms
Glue
Giraffe
Great
Glamour
Glitz
Grace
Grapes
Gravy
George Washington
Glob
Goober
Gymnasium
Gynocologist
Geologist
Geography
Grade
Grant (Hugh)
Grinch
Grown( i don't feel grown, do you?)
Goodies
Gordan (Jeff)
Gordman's
Golf
Glib
Garrison (the street Joe and I lived on when we first got married)


That is all we can think of. Man my kids are smart! They thunk of a big hunk of this list!

Jazzy Friends

This is the couple we stayed with....Octagon Man and Octagon Gal. They live about 30 miles away from Denton and came to enjoy the music with us. We went home with them and had a great visit. UJ and OM reminisced about days gone by and OG and I got to know each other better and enjoyed seeing our guys have such a good time.

Jazzy Pooches

I bet there are some kids out there who wanted
to ride this dog.



















This dog was politic'in.
















This pup was howling and whining. I think he
was just hungry.....we were near some food vendors.

















Cujo was there too. He has gotten nice in his old age.

Jazzy Pictures Part V

I gave this girl some money for some real clothes. She came in her pj's!!

....and these folks just snoozed away!

Jazzy Pictures IV

So, how is the weather up ther Slim??

Jazzy Pictures Part III

Here is the booth of an artist named Gail Shelton. Her pictures were so vibrant and wonderful! I asked to take a picture to show Carly. You can find her work here. She is a traveling art teacher....traveling all over the country and even around the world. What fun her class would be!

Jazzy Pictures Part II

This is the Jazz Stage where we spent most of our time

Jazzy Pictures Part I

Here is the surprise we found in our suitcase when we got to our hotel. Two little animals to remind us of our two little monkeys at home. :o)

















And we're off!

Coming Soon

I took lots of neat pictures at the JazzFest and I will have them posted soon. I promise.

~AJ

I'm All Jazzed Up

Please make a note at where we will be Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

This is a wonderful festival we drove down to experience last year with our oldest daughter, Carly.

It is a free festival held annually in Denton, TX and is filled to the brim with wonderful jazz musicians. Some of the musicians come from University of North Texas, one of the top music universities in the United States. Other groups and individuals come from across the country to play in this festival.

Lots of food, arts and crafts and entertainment stages will be a fun family event if you are in the area.

The Headline artist for 2006 is Joshua Redman (Friday night) and The Robert Cray Band (Saturday night)

Anyway, if any of you Texans reading this decide to go to the festival, don't be shy, come up and say hi! You'll recognize me....I am the gal with the guy in the Batman suit.

HATS

Hats

I was driving back to work Monday after lunch at home (the hottest day this year 96 degrees!) and noticed a lot of people wearing all sorts of hats. In my short 1 mile drive back to work I saw: a baseball hat, a fishing hat, a visor, and an outback looking hat. By the time I got back to work I was laughing.....

Hats are very important to men I have discovered over the years. Men lacking in the furry head covering department must utilize head wear or lots of SPF 50 sunscreen to keep from getting a scorched cranium. Joe's fave hat I believe is a green baseball hat with an "orange" team on it. At the moment, the name of the team escapes me. I have also learned that my bootie is a hat magnet. When he takes off his hat in the vehicles, that hat will invariably end up under my butt and get smashed. I'm thinking we need a special suctioned hook in the cars for his hats.

Got me thinking: what kinds of hats to y'all wear? Do you have an activity that requires special headgear? Does Foo have a cycling hat? Does Meow have a Down Under hat? Does Saur have a hat with a mask? Does Emma have a hat with coffee cups on it? How big of a hat does Gobhole need to hide her hair on bad hair days? Is Leslee an OU or OSU fan? Does Jamie Dawn wear a big Southern Belle bonnet? Does Anne wear a do-rag? She is a motorcycle Mama you know......
Slick has a cool hat. (maybe I can catch him in it and take a picture)

Our church has a fun tradition. Months that have 5 Sundays we proclaim the 5th Sunday, "Hat Day" All the ladies of the church wear a hat to church. It can be any hat: funny like a chef's hat, or serious like a beret, it can be playful like a baseball hat. I have seen jester hats, graduation hats, big funny garden hats(me), cowgirl hats, baseball caps and even visors. This is a fun day and you should try it in your church.....be the catalyst and get the funniest hat you can find. :o)

I have asked Uncle Joe for assistance with this post in the way of locating some good pictures to post.....so stay tuned if you are reading this post with text only. I know he will come up with some good ones.

So there you have it folks, my silly thoughts for the week. ~AJ

Here is CarlyJo and CassiJo in their Easter finery.

I am having Blogger woes trying to post additional pictures, so please check back again for updated photos. ~AJ

Hello Peeps!

Here is the cutest thing I have seen this spring.....stuffed Peeps! We went on an outing to KMart yesterday and came across these adorable rabbit peeps.

They are named PinkiePie Peep and Penelope Peep. They are happily living with The Joe Family.

Stealing Cassidy

Today, after a 4 hour ordeal that involved 4 stores to get all the Joes a new Easter outfit we arrived home and Cassidy wanted to ride her bike on the driveway. I had already told the girls that I needed a rest before we colored the eggs for tomorrow and Cassi wanted someone to stay outside with her. She said, "Carly, will you stay outside with me? I don't want anyone to steal me." and just laughed and started riding her bike.......

(I realize this is a serious thing, but it struck me funny the way she said it)

She was also singing "Jesus Take The Wheel" today, except she had made up her own words.
"Jesus take the week, I can't do this all night long" This girl keeps us laughing every day....

Today at Payless Shoe Store I had a sad revelation. Carly and I may not have the same taste in shoes! Shoot! I was looking forward to sharing all those shoes!! Maybe she will change her mind and start picking out some cute shoes that I like. heehee!

We also ran into my friend Greg and his wife Melissa and their 10 month old baby, Logan at the mall. That was a treat....it was the first time I had seen Logan since he was a newborn and he had grown so much! His cheeks were just full of sugars. (that of course i had to kiss!) He was fascinated by Cassidy, who had put on some sparkley face gel at Bath and Bodyworks. He kept reaching out to touch her face and tried to poke her in the eye. He also tried to pick her nose. Cassi didn't quite know what to think of that.

Now I am off to rest for a bit before the hoo-haa continues as we color Easter eggs.

I hope you all are having a wonderful holiday weekend. :o) Are you eating Peeps? I personally don't like them. Too sticky and sugary for me. I am a fan of Reese's Eggs and Jelly Belly's :o)
I found something really cute for the girls at KMart. We will post a picture of them later. I looked all over and couldn't find a Cadbury creme egg...the one that looks like a real egg when you break it. Do they still make those? Joe likes them and I thought I would surprise him with one. (The first time I saw one of those I gagged. It looked like a real raw egg yolk inside and made sick!)
******************************************************
Praise God for the resurrection! I am glad we serve a living God, one that will return someday and take us home to Heaven.

Help! I am blogging and can't stop!

I have posted four posts today...help!

Here I leave a post up for a week and today I post four!

Oh well hope you have a few minutes to read them.

I hope you all enjoyed your Sunday......we had a wonderful Easter Song service at my mothers church and I understand from Joe that the service he attended with Ted was excellent as well. I am amazed at the messages these preachers have for us every week. God is so good. He knows exactly what we need to hear and leads us to those messages. I actually had my own private service while listening to the music. I took advantage of the quiet time and just prayed for things that were on my heart. At one point I looked over at Cassidy, all snuggled in Papa's arm and had to look away because I was starting to tear up. My grandmother, and my mother (and I and many other family members too) have prayed for many years for my dad to get back into church and to see him there with his baby granddaughter was a wonderful sight.

Right now Cassidy and I are watching "Elf" one of my favorite movies. There is no one like Will Ferrell to make us laugh! Who says we can't watch a Christmas movie in April? ;o)

Y'all have a great week and I'll see you around the blogosphere.

Bestest Pizza in Oklahoma

We crown Sam & Ella's Chicken Palace, Tahlequah, Oklahoma the winner of the Bestest Pizza Award.

Sam & Ella's serves our favorite pizza, Rock Island Red. It is a hand made crust topped with large chunks of ham drizzled with honey, red onions and lots of pineapples and of course red sauce and mozzarella cheez.

If you are ever out this way, you must stop by and have a slice or two. We always get enough to have a slice for breakfast or a midnight snack. Did I get any of the left
overs you ask? Well NO. I am still pouting about that. :o( There are apparently One-Eyed-One-Horned-Flying-Purple-Pizza-Eaters in the Joe House. I need some repellant or a new place to hide left overs.

Fun Day at the Parade

Here are some pictures of CarlyJo and CassiJo at the Azalea Festival Parade yesterday. The weather was very nice...sunny and chili...oops I mean chilly. :o) It was also the annual Chili Cookoff. We sampled some chili, some hot links, and bbq. Who won you ask? We have no idea!

Uncle Joe and the band played an intermission for a local church band. There wer SO many other bands playing in such a small area that they had a hard time hearing themselves. They were not happy with their performance, but to the audience it sounded fine. Hopefully, the next performance will be more to their liking. Uncle Joe came home a little sunburned too....my cold hands felt good on his hot sunburned cranium this morning. :o)

We all came home smelling of smoke and I had to take a shower to get back to my vanilla-scented self.

This Thing Really Sucks!!

When Joe and I were off Thursday we had to go to Sears, here at our local mall. I decided to check out the vacuum cleaners and LOOK what i found!! I found this Bissell vacuum regularly $180 on Clarence's Rack for $32.99!! Can you believe that? I surely snatched that up. I had a great Panasonic vaccuum but somehow, after 10 years of faithful service it decided to retire.

I love the retro look and the color if fabulous! Another great thing is the motor is a detachable canister too. It is also a bagless so I can forget about making a special trip to the vaccuum cleaner store 30 miles away to buy a gross of bags. (it seems that NO ONE in our town stocks Panasonic bags, wouldn't you know)

I know you all are coveting my vaccuum cleaner right at this very moment, but you will have to find your own. This one is MINE!!

Painted Piggies In Sandals

Missie Anne over at Hubbadoo had a great idea: post a picture of our favorite summer sandals.

Here are my favorites. I got them at Payless two summers ago and I wear them all the time in the summer. When I am not wearing these, I like flip flops in all colors. I am so glad that flip flops are cheap. My daughter and I will be wearing the same size shoe before too long and that will be kinda nice....our shoe collection will double! (sorry Joe!) :o)

As you can see i wear an anklet too. It is just a little bead thing I made and I have lots of those too. It may look silly, but I like it in the summer. I don't have it on right now, but I also like to wear toe rings. Do you? Nothing fancy, just a small gold band.

If I ever had a tattoo, I would want one on my toe. ;o)

If you want to see some more painted piggies in summer sandals go here

I am secretly off work today and Joe and I are gong to eat some Thai food for lunch.......yum!

I have camera in hand in case we encounter anything interesting or funny or just down right weird.