like it or not, here it comes

Winter sucks. It's not so bad right now, because we are still in the Christmas season, but January, February and March are soooooo loooong! I was feeling kind of blue when I saw everyone beginning to decorate for Christmas because it meant my fabulous fall was coming to an abrupt end! And it was a fabulous fall. We were trolling around in the jeep all the time and it started to get chilly enough to wear a jacket....then we needed gloves and hats......then we were layering coats....then piling on blankets (oh yes, we are die hards!) and now the jeep pretty much just sits in the driveway for the season. So sad.

I don't know when I became such an outdoors person. I'm sure my mom, dad, brother and sister wonder the same thing. I know it was after I met Troy. Our first vacation together was a rafting and camping trip in the Grand Canyon in 1989. We have taken virtually nothing but outdoor vacations ever since, always including hiking somewhere, sometimes camping as well. The first week of October we threw the tent in the back of the jeep and drove down to Eureka Springs, Arkansas, which is about a 3 hour drive from home.



We camped at the base of the dam at Beaver Lake.



This is the view of the river from the dam.

We have been here before of course, I say this all the time....but it's one of my favorite places! Tent camping is one of my favorite things, I just can't personally think of anything else more peaceful than waking up gazing out of the mesh ceiling of the tent at the trees above us and listening to the birds outside. To wake up outside is pretty cool. And coffee and bacon and eggs cooked over the fire! There is just no better way for me to start a day.





So this trip was all about me. I got to eat at my favorite German restaurant, The Bavarian Inn.



Roast Duck or Wiener Schnitzel anyone?

And also shop in some of my favorite shops for antiques and specialty items on those pretty, winding, hilly streets downtown.



I came home with a green glass rolling pin, a big multi-colored bag from the leather shop, and some colorful plastic fish shaped paper plate holders (to hang on my kitchen wall).

And this time we drove up the hill to see the Christ of the Ozarks up close.



The next weekend was a fall festival in my hometown, the town where I teach, Girard. It's 8 miles from our home. We decided to ride our bikes over Saturday morning. We did this one other time. It was great weather for it again!




There were vendors set up all around the town square. Very nice turn out this year. And a car show. That's my dad's '51 Chevy in the picture.

The following weekend the Smiths invited us to their lake house at Lake of the Ozarks. Another pretty fall weekend. We took the boat out on the lake. Troy and I drove the jeep and our girls went with the Smiths. We got to take our time on the way home, touring HaHa Tonka State Park near Camdenton and stopping at antique stores along the way, again coming home with more goodies (that only Troy and I would appreciate).



I spent another 3 day weekend in DesMoines scrapbooking the next weekend. It had been a year and a half since I'd been able to go. I got a lot accomplished while I was there and had a great time with my friend Nancy's cousins from Minnesota. Going back again in February.

And then it was Halloween:



Adorable Case family kids!!!!

The same weekend Susan's beau, Troy, had a very sweet surprise 40th birthday party for Susan. He put so much work into it and she was genuinely surprised! The pictures say it all.

He had this cake made representing all the decades of her life so far, picking up items from the scrapbook store to represent our family dog, her interests growing up, jobs, children, etc.



Susan's lifelong besties were there waiting for her to show up. Susan thought she was attending a party celebrating my Aunt Betty and Uncle Charlie's 60th wedding anniversary.



Room full of people: family, friends, co-workers, waiting for Susan. Good beer, wine, food. He put together a touching slide show of Susan growing up and today also.



And there she is! Realizing that it's all about her. Very sweet, eh? Nice evening.

And my Troy's brother, Travis had a baby girl this fall. We made the trip out to visit them when they had their first born, Liam, 5 years ago, so we made another trip this fall to see baby Veda. It was very pretty there in North Carolina in early November, here's Troy walking Travis' property. And Kalyn holding baby Veda.



We went to a flea market there, Kalyn didn't have luck finding the sunglasses she wanted, but Alina found some shoes she HAD TO HAVE. She is still wearing them a few weeks later even though they cramp her toes a little.




Kalyn has some of the better pictures from this trip on her camera so I took a few from her. It was about this time I decided I needed to get a better camera of my own. Above here are pictures of Liam, Kalyn, Alina and me, all of us sitting around a fire pit in their driveway, and body stamps the kids really enjoyed while we were there.

We came home from that trip and the leaves had fallen off the trees here and everyone had decorated for Christmas. And I knew my fall was over. Even though it wasn't even Thanksgiving yet.

So.....Troy, Kalyn, Alina and I were sitting at Applebees together Thanksgiving weekend and Troy mentioned seeing a good deal on a Cannon EOS T2i with a nice lens online and I ordered it that night. To cheer myself up about the onset of winter. It arrived today and as I type, Troy is looking it over while he's watching tv. Merry Christmas to us!

God Bless Us, Every One.

Hey, we're going to see A Christmas Carol this weekend in Kansas City! I'll have some nice pictures to post!

so how was your Friday night? (diary of a stressed out mom)

This isn't usually my style, but I'm feeling it. Written in timeline form because I don't feel like typing out paragraphs.

Tuesday after school: Kalyn asks to go to the mall to buy tickets for the midnight Harry Potter movie premier. I'm impressed that she thinks ahead of time to go buy the tickets, she missed the last Twilight midnight premier because she waited too long to think about getting tickets. Of course she can go. She's in high school now, she can handle the late night. It's close to Thanksgiving, she'll be off most of next week. I approve.

Thursday after school: Okay, there is nobody that she can ride home with after the movie. Which means I will be picking her up at 2:30 in the morning. On a school night. Okay. I'll make a bed on the couch so I don't bother Troy getting up in the middle of the night and I'll leave my clothes on, keep my phone in my hands so I'm sure to get the text when she's ready.

Thursday 11:00 pm: Can't really sleep. Afraid I'll miss her text.

Friday 1:30 am: text her to let her know she needs to text me about 30 minutes before she needs me because I have to drive all the way down there and I don't want her to be there alone in the parking lot. No response.

Friday 2:30 am: Finally get the text, she's had her phone off. She's alone in the parking lot. Well, not really, some people she knows are letting her wait for me in their van. Nice of them. I'm a moron.

Friday 6:00 am: Barely dragging myself out of bed. I'm too old for this late night stuff. Troy "reminds" me that I need to sew a hole in the crotch of his work jeans. What? I said I would do that? No recollection. I must have not really been listening to him and said I would just to shut him up. Everyone in the family acts like I'm crazy when they discover that I wasn't really listening to them. I don't think anyone realizes that, while I'm usually at home at the same times that they are, I do go off to a full time job every day. That takes planning, and energy, and my full attention sometimes.

Friday 3:00 pm: Cleaning up my classroom. These kids are crazy! You can tell we're close to a vacation break. Haven't thought about supper. Notice Troy has deposited money in the bank, which means he's gotten paid for something. We'll eat chicken tonight. Good. I'm too tired, and yes, stressed, to worry about it.

Friday 3:45 pm: On the phone with Troy, need to stop by the shop and pay a bill. Receive a text from sister-in-law, she has a 7 year old too, we trade off kids on the weekends. It's a good deal, our turn to take Colton tonight. Good, we'll go eat chicken.

Friday 5:30ish pm: Waiting on Colton and Troy to get home. Telling Alina to get dressed for dinner (she's in pajamas) and Kalyn is asleep on the couch. Of course. I understand, I'm tired too.

Friday 6:00ish pm: We're all here. Toilet is clogged again. I go plunge it because I seem to not get as upset about it as everyone else in the house. As I'm plunging the toilet, Troy is complaining to me that he has no clean jeans to wear to go out to eat. I suggest his khakis. Nope, no good. He's such a fashionista. He's getting baloney out of the refrigerator to fry instead of going out. You have got to be kidding me? No? Really?..........Come on kids, we are going to go eat.

Friday 6:30 pm: The kids and I are in the car headed to eat somewhere. Where? They say McDonalds. Ugh. We go to Walmart first because everyone in the family has been complaining that there is no food that's ready to eat in the house. Again, I have a full time job that I go off to every day. This is an every day issue that never seems to resolve itself, even though I do have a list on the refrigerator now that reminds me of the things my family complains we are without, I don't make the runs to the store often enough to please everyone. When did I become the person everyone orders around? Even Alina does it.

Friday 7:30 pm: Back home and Kalyn is having a complete meltdown. LOTS of drama.I was a moron for letting her stay out all night last night. Lesson learned. Everyone is totally stressed.

Friday 8:30 pm: Kids are running around the house making way too much noise. Troy is going to bed. I send kids to bed shortly after. They're pouting. I brew a pot of coffee. I'm going to scrub the floor in the kitchen and maybe clean out the refrigerator.

Friday 10:00 pm: Cool! All those pieces in the refrigerator snap apart for easier cleaning! These pears have been in there for awhile. They smell like alcohol.

Friday 11:30 pm: This is the cleanest refrigerator I have ever seen. I'm so impressed with myself. I feel much better now. So this is how crazy manifests itself in 40 something year old moms. We brew a pot of coffee and clean things. I guess I always knew that. It does look nice, though, doesn't it?

Bittersweet September

Last day of September.

I think I am really getting good at teaching full time and being mom and wife. I am making Alina's lunch in the morning, which for some reason has always been really hard for me to do. And I'm even peeling and cutting up apples for her! I'm impressed with myself, anyway. It's still hard to keep Troy's work jeans clean, but, oh well.

I got new tires today! That's great because they were REALLY worn out. Dangerously worn out. Should have been replaced in the spring worn out. But times are hard. Today I feel good about getting behind the wheel to drive to work.

And the ladies that I teach with are really awesome. We meet to make and prepare lesson plans every week and I always feel prepared to teach, because we have great stuff ready for the kids. It's a very supportive mix of people to work with, which makes a world of difference in any job. My job is interesting because 1st graders are fabulous. They are funny, energetic, smart little people that always amaze me.

So things are good, basically.

There have been a couple deaths, and some illness in my extended family. A complicated part of life that no one enjoys. It does bring family together. And I have witnessed some amazing family relationships in watching my cousins this month. I am impressed with the people I am related to. Big family, strong values, an uncle and aunt who raised a family the right way.

On a happy note, Troy and I are planning a jeep trip to Eureka Springs, Arkansas this weekend. Arkansas is one of my favorite places to visit in the whole world. And the friendliest people in the whole world seem to live in Arkansas (that includes many of my relatives). The weather is beautiful right now, and I am beginning to see some trees even turning a little. So I'm excited.

Troy's mom mentioned the other day that her pear trees were ready for picking and that some people like to make pear honey, and I got typically infatuated with the idea of making something I had never heard of before. So I asked Troy to bring home some of his mom's pears for me while he was out there on Sunday. He brought me a gigantic box of pears home. So I am currently collecting pear recipes.



Alina got to go to the Labor Day weekend rodeo in Uniontown and ride a horse with her cousin Haley, so she fancies herself a cowgirl now. Troy and Helen made a corral in Helen's pasture for Helen's pony, and Alina has been riding her regularly now. She's getting pretty good at it.




Kalyn has been driving around a lot, as per her requirements for receiving her restricted license next summer. I let her drive to Joplin last weekend, when we shopped with a couple of her friends for dresses for the homecoming dance. She even drove through a fast food drive-thru, which was hard for me when I was learning to drive. Of course cars were much bigger back then.



We did find a dress, and I hope to have pictures to post this weekend. The dance is tomorrow night.



My 42nd birthday was this month. Mom made an apple cake for me and also bought a cake she felt the kids would be more likely to eat and brought them over for dinner one night. Troy fried fish for me, my favorite. And sent some flowers to school for me, because he is really sweet. I am feeling kind of old. These hiking and biking excursions we do are a bigger deal to me now because they are more difficult. Not only was I really sore from our hiking trip in Elk City earlier this month, but my toenails were bruised! And for some reason I had a bad case of poison ivy on my legs and feet, which hasn't happened to me in about 35 years. Not sure how, but I'm pretty sure that's related to me getting old. And I got reading glasses this month. Yep, I'm on the downhill side for sure.

making myself really sore!

This weekend Troy and I went on our hiking and camping trip we've been looking forward to all summer. Troy has been before, by himself. He's hiked halfway in, camped overnight on the trail, hiked back out. I begged him to take me back, which he did a year ago, but he had a hurt knee and we only hiked half the distance. Months later he implied that, though his knee was hurt, he also worried at the time that I wasn't up to the whole hike. Which made me furious! So I've been looking forward to going back with him for a long time.



The trail is not a loop. So if you hike the whole thing you have to have a ride back to your vehicle. Which we didn't, as we took the jeep over. So we just hiked halfway in and then back out the next day. Someday we'll figure it out and hike the whole thing at once. It says it takes 11 hours, but really, we did it in 8.5 hours. We're awesome.

The difficulty ranking of "rugged" means there really isn't a "trail" so much as a series of trees and rocks with the blue marking to follow. Your "trail" consists of boulders to scale, smaller rocks to scramble over on foot, as well as massive tree roots, sticks, branches, leaves and those huge hickory nut balls that can get under your feet and really turn an ankle if you're not careful. You really have to watch your feet while you walk. And there are ups and downs to it also.



See, here's a portion of the trail. Walking on these rocks is a little treacherous because it's so easy to turn an ankle. If you have a backpack on, like we did, with our food provisions, clothes, bed rolls and sleeping bags, they can weigh about 30 lbs. If the weight is evenly distributed in the pack, it's not a big deal at all, in fact the weight on your back can help to kind of push you forward when you are walking up hill. But God help you if you trip on a rock, because that backpack will try it's darndest to TAKE YOU DOWN.



Here's a scary looking tree along the trail!

Troy's hiking nemesis is spider webs along the way. He used a tree branch to try to get them out of the way as we went. I would have hiked ahead of him, as they don't bother me that much, but he has a faster pace than I do....so.....I listened to him gripe about them instead. My favorite quote from Troy on the way back the next day was "I'd roll in horse poop all day long if I didn't have to deal with these spider webs." (part of the trail is also an equestrian trail, so you come across manure a lot too)



Troy the spider hater, demonstrating spider-like characteristics. He can't resist climbing bluffs.

So about 3:00ish we reached the half-way point and set up camp. The one bad thing that happened was our water purifier stopped working, or broke. So we had to boil lake water in the morning to drink. Ugh! Other than that, it was all good. We took military ready to eat meals with us. We love them, we think they get a bad rap! The main courses taste like something out of a can, like Campbells or Dinty Moore Beef Stew, but so what! The sides they pack in there are always a fun surprise to me. I got dried, sugared cranberries in mine, and they were delicious! And there's always also some kind of dessert, like m&ms and crackers with some kind of spread (cheese, apple jelly, chocolate peanut butter), so what's not to like?



Troy fishing at the campsite with a fishing pole he made from a tree branch (no luck) and me eating the giant tootsie rolls that were in my MRE.

And speaking of Troy crafting things, he's a blacksmith, you know. With an interest in all things "Smithy", he occasionally will make knives. And he carries these knives with him while camping, because he has them in all sizes. One of these was a huge knife that he figured would be good for whacking away at tree branches or getting rid of spider webs. Before we left he used some leather scraps that were left behind in his shop by previous occupants to make a leather sheath for the knife. He says it's really crude, just something he put together to take the knife with us this weekend, but I thought it looked pretty cool.




I can't get a good shot (non-blurry) of him because he walks pretty fast, but there is his knife sheath sticking up from the back of his backpack. It looks like it would be a cool part of a Native American Halloween costume!




Troy said his "dogs were barking" and he went to the water to soak his feet. I did too. Especially with the backpack on, going downhill on those rocks just kills my toes. I didn't think anything else hurt at the time, but I discovered the next morning when I put my backpack back on that my shoulders were sore as well. My whole body just said "Whoa, I didn't complain too much yesterday, but this backpack and hiking kind of hurts" And I worried a little about hiking out. I'm a 42 year old mom. I don't train for things like this. I'm not obese by most people's standards, but certainly overweight and out of shape. I love being outside, and especially in a rugged way. And these hikes are conducive to a lot of deep thinking, which is good for the soul, too. But I'm not an athlete.

We slept in our sleeping bags by the campfire. No tent, of course, because who wants to pack that? The weather was perfect. It turned cool when the sun went down. The stars were awesome. The owls hooted a little, didn't hear many tree frogs. Very nice. I slept well, Troy had to keep the fire going, though, so he didn't so much. I remember at 2:00 thinking that if I woke up again and the fire needed more wood I would take care of it. The next thing I knew it was 6:00.

We put our backpacks back on our sore, stiff bodies and headed out. We ran into an actual person a little way on the trail, a runner in an orange jersey with the #31 on it. So we thought maybe he was part of a 5K through the trail or something, but we never saw anyone else. He cheerfully declared to us that all the spider webs along his running path were taken care of for us. I told Troy that runners are happy people and he said "They better be, because running sucks." Our attitude was a little different on day 2. We got the hang of it all again a couple miles in.



Here I am on the hike back. I did see things on the way back that I didn't notice on the way in. It got really dry as we hiked in and where there was normally running water (where Troy camped previously) there was nothing. So I was surprised on the way back to see the main river again and noticed how big and wide it really is! And the bluffs along the river are very pretty, which I didn't notice so much on the way in, focusing on my feet so much.



Ha! Here is sweaty, happy me at the trail head again. I know, I totally missed my super model calling, right? It feels good to have hiked 15 miles!

We were happy to get in our jeep at the end and drove down the road to get some fountain drinks before heading home. Well we needed to sit somewhere and eat before home, actually. We really wanted to eat at Ernesto's in Parsons, but apparently the only restaurant open in Parsons (small town USA) on Sunday is Sirloin Stockade. All you can eat steak special on Labor Day weekend! Good enough for us.