In This Crazy Life...

A friend was in town Saturday afternoon an decided to stay the night so we could go on a long run this morning. We have a 10K coming up in October and a half marathon in December. We drove out to two rivers park to run. I love going out there. It is so peaceful and you always see lots of deer. As we were starting mile four, we noticed the sign saying Pinnacle Mountain was about six miles away. That led to the bright idea of climbing Pinnacle Mountain. So after running four plus miles we drove over and climbed the mountain. It was freaking hard!!! But we did and it felt good. The view is gorgeous from the top.  I was in Kroger Saturday morning and noticed the new beer taps they put in. You can now purchase growlers of various local beer while grocery shopping.

Monday afternoon I took Lilly to the vet. She's always so shaky and tries to sit in my lap. Dr. Barron loves her and tells her every year how lucky she is to have found us. She is the oldest living dog he knows of with her sphincter condition. I can't believe she will be four in November! Everything check out great and the little pig even lost five pounds since last year. The garden is producing. I picked all of this Monday night. I'm going to have to make stuffed bell peppers. Next year I want more jalapeno and banana pepper plants so I can pickle my own. Kev goes through so many jars of them. Tuesday I drove to Hot Springs to visit with mom and help clean out some of my grandmothers things. They are having a huge yard sale this Saturday. I also went by to visit my grandpa. He has Chemo this week and I wanted to check on him. Wednesday I had to work until 3:30 and after that I ran to the store to get supplies for canning dill pickles. I have never done it before, b...

Thursday I met a friend of mine that was putting Lilly's name on her diaper covers. They turned out so cute!! After that I rushed to Hot Springs to visit. It was my Papaw's birthday and we were taking him to dinner. I'm so fortunate to still have him in  my life and hopefully he will be able to meet our child one day. Friday I didn't have summer school and planned to get up and get moving early. Well.... That didn't happen. I slept until 11:00!!! I don't ever sleep late much less until lunch. It was a stormy day so my pool plans were canceled. I did manage to visit with a friend and her daughter for a little while. I clean house some and did laundry. Saturday morning I was up early to run to the grocery store. I needed a few things for banana pudding, my usual Forth of July dessert. Hatfield wanted to ride and since it was early, not hot, and I only had a few things to get I let him. Lilly is content laying around doing nothing all day! They are so oppo...

Tuesday after summer school I ran to the store to pick up a few groceries and get fruit for jam. I tried a new strawberry jam recipe this year. It uses honey instead of refined sugar and apple instead of pectin. I wanted to make an organic real food version. It is delicious!! While the jam was cooking down I tried a new recipe for dinner, BBQ Spaghetti . I used the BBQ sauce I made. It turned out pretty good. Next time I want just a little more spice. I've got baby cucumbers and okra growing in the garden. I can't wait for next years garden. I have so many things I want to do differently and plant more of. This year was a trial year and I didn't want to spend tons of money if everything was going to die, but it hasn't so I'm excited for more next year. Wednesday night I went to dinner with two friends from college. They are sorority sisters of mine and we try to get together every other month. We tried a new place in town called Heights Taco and Tamale. ...

Happy New Year from us!! We enjoyed a very low key night with some very good friends. I don't really have any new goals or resolutions this year.  I w ill always want to workout/ run more. I bought a year membership to Jazzercise last month and I started going right after work.  We are still trying to cut out processed foods. I joined 100 Days of Real Food's 14 week mini-challenge. Each week is a small step towards eating cleaner. The first week is eating enough fruits and veggies. I've been reading labels more and noticing how many chemicals and artificial flavors we are putting in our bodies. I want to start making homemade and freezing for quick uses. I made homemade cream of mushroom. It was so easy and really good. It's also cheaper than the canned stuff.  We have a few exciting things planned for this year. We will be on our way to Ireland in 10 short weeks. Once we get back we are going to start trying to have a baby!  I know that doesn't always go as pl...

My old teacher friends and I went to Painting with a Twist. I went that one time with my mother's church group, but this was much better. The guy actually instructed us on how to paint the picture. I chose to use blues. The one he did was gold. The background. the white chalk line you see is the outline for the tree.   The finished product! It was the easiest painting ever. The tree is just dots that you create using the bottom of a paintbrush. We used a larger one for the big dots and a smaller one for the others. Katie and I Everyone's finished product. I'd love to paint a very large one for above the fireplace. I love the green background with red dots.

We went to see Garth last night! I saw him way back in the early 90s and couldn't wait to see him again.  He played for three nights in Little Rock. It was by far one of the best concerts I have ever been to. I sang at the top of my lungs and danced all night. We had really good seats and the tickets only $75. I hate when artists jack up ticket prices. He obviously knows all of his shows are going to sell out, so he keeps tickets affordable. If he announces a show in Dallas or some where close, I would go again.

One of my besties in Hot Springs invited me to go to Mosiac Madness with her and her mom Saturday. I'd never been but love mosiacing!! I mosaiced the top of a cabinet a few years back with limestone and old dishes. I was thinking I wanted to do a garden stone, but they didn't have one. I decided to make a cross for my mom. There were several different wood cutouts you could choose from.  Once you picked your cutout, you had to decide what materials you were going to use. They had everything imaginable!  I chose glass. I dug through two huge tubs and found lots or orange, my moms favorite color, and blue. Once all the glass was glued down, I let it dry. We crabbed lunch at Smokin' in Style while we waited. When we got back it was ready to grout and paint the edges of the wood. The finished product.  Th ey had some amazing pieces on display!   I really want to make one of the razorbacks or a window. Later that night, I stayed with a friend ...

We loaded up this morning and headed to a friend's house for a pool party! This was the dog's first time riding in the new vehicle. Hatfield HAS to sit in a seat. Lilly was fine with laying in the back. Enjoy your 4th and stay safe!

The baby shower I had yesterday was a success and Miss Maebry received lots of goodies.  It was chilly last night so we decide to build a fire. There was a huge pile of boxes that need burning. We drove down the driveway a little ways and piled Kev's truck full of pine logs and branches. The fire burned for hours! There were still hot coals this morning. I'm just glad we were able to clean up some trees along the driveway. I told Kev we needed to do this every weekend. I drove to Pine Bluff this afternoon to attend my cousin's baby shower. She is due in four weeks! Once again no pictures. Today I was just tired from staying up til 1:30 last night and 12:30 Friday night! I just can't do that these days.

So I played hookie yesterday. My college roommate has lived abroad since graduate school, so we rarely get to see each other. However, she does come through the states at least once a year. We always try to see each other someway or somehow. Sometimes it's just a passing through (Missouri to Texas) lunch, sometimes it's a day or two. Today we enjoyed a two and a half hour lunch and lots of chatting. You know a great friend when you can not see each other for months and pick up like you talked just yesterday. Hopefully we will be able to plan a trip to Malaysia before they move again. In honor of St. Paddy's Day I cooked an irish dinner. This year I made Shepard's Pie and cabbage. I've never even eaten Shepard's Pie. I found a couple of recipes on Pinterest and tried one out. It was really good. Next time I will put a little more spice. You start by browning the ground beef in a skillet and adding onions, garlic, paprika, and thyme. When that is cooked ...

Back in April one of Kev's friends asked if we wanted to go floating/camping Memorial Day weekend with his wife and a group of her friends. We weren't real sure but said yes. I kept begging Kev to get details. What campsite? I wanted to research it before we got there. We are use to camping in the wilderness or on an island in the middle of the lake. No rules. He never could get a straight answer from B, in his defense he really didn't know. So, Kev tells me to relax and just go with the flow. If you know me, you know that is hard for me to do. I'm a planner. I want to be prepared. Especially when I am in the woods. I spend the day getting everything we would need together. We left EARLY Saturday morning just so we would have time to stop and get gas, ice, and water shoes (for Kev).  There was no need to do any of that. We were literally camping across the street from a 24 hour Valero and McDonalds!!!!!!! Less than a half mile from a grocery store!! You can barely se...