hangin’ in the valley, maggie valley, that is…

we’re in maggie valley again, for the annual conference of the methodists.  this year we’re staying at a little mom and pop motel, and I don’t ever want to go home.  (okay, that’s a fib, because I’m almost ready to be home).

this year, rich is the delegate, so he gets to go sit in the hot meetings and tony and I get to hang out and find things to do on our own.  also different this year, we have a little tag-along, mr. potato head.  I’m participating in (yet another) swap, this one is a little visitor swap.  I made a pig and sent her to belgium, and received mr. potato head in return.

so, mr. potato head has had many adventures with us this week; on thursday,

we went gem mining, finding lots of emeralds

tater helped, he even found one himself before we left!

on friday, tony and I hung around town while rich went to the meeting; we found tater an outhouse…but it was occupied.   he waited for what seemed like forever, but no one ever came out.  we eventually just left, he wouldn’t go out back…

then we went to maggie valley carpet golf.  I’ve never heard putt putt called carpet golf, but, hey, to each his own.  it was fun.

tony and his daddy get very serious about their mini golf.  I’m just along for the ride.  I almost always come in WAY over par, but I have fun.

unfortunately for tater, even his big hand wouldn’t hold the weight of the club, so he basically just had to watch.  poor guy!

well, there’ll be more later, we’re off to breakfast now!

 

the keddy and momo show

this is keddy                                                                                                                      this is momo

emma calls kennedy ‘keddy’ and kennedy pronounces emma ‘momo’.

they are bffs and get along almost all of the time, which is somewhat surprising, when you take into account that they’re 2, and 2 year olds are notoriously self centered.  emma is moreso than kenni, and kenni is more independent than emma.  she’s also more affectionate and loving, although emma is affectionate and loving enough.

sometimes kenni wants to play with emma

but sometimes emma wants  to do what SHE wants to do.  emma doesn’t like to share toys (EVERYTHING is hers, by the way, even when it’s not) and I have to get involved more often than I’d like.  I don’t think I’ve heard the word ‘mine’ come out of kenni’s mouth.

but all in all, they’re best of friends, and it’s all good in the end.

there’s something rather heartwarming about these 2 little sweethearts sharing their time with us

 

I really don’t like dogs

my minister, laura, was married on saturday.  it was a beautiful wedding, and she was a gorgeous bride.

her groom, nathan just graduated from duke divinity school, while she still has 2  years to go before she can be a full time minister.  so they’ll be married ministers, who both come from minister fathers.

nathan has been given a small church ( a little bigger than ours) about 20 minutes from ours, and to save money, they’ll live in our parsonage until she graduates and has to leave us; then they’ll move to his church’s parsonage.

they left on their honeymoon on sunday, driving to florida, where they’ll both be in a wedding on saturday.  they have already stopped in charleston and savannah, then it’s on to st. augustine to go on a ghost hunt or something or other.

together, they have 4 dogs: laura bought versace about a year ago, then reese came to her house as a stray.  nathan has layla, and due to his allergies to cats, she traded her 2 cats to her parents for her childhood shih tzu, cheyenne.

they boarded cheyenne and layla with the vet for the honeymoon, but surrogate mama here has the other 2.  reese is extremely skitterish, taking FOREVER to warm up to people, me included.  and versace is so tiny, she didn’t want him to get sick or get hurt, so those 2 didn’t get to go the vet.  they got to come here and remind me why I love my kitties.

yeah, they look really cute all curled up next to me on this ugly couch, don’t they?  and they are cute, until they come in from a 20 minute walk out back and go right over to the corner and poo.  right then, they are not only not cute, but a pain in my ass!!

I borrowed some puppy pads from mama (by borrowed, I mean that she gave them to me, she’s not getting them back) and have put up the baby gates to keep them in the kitchen.  I hate not having them in the living room to snuggle up on the couch, but every time I bring them in there, EVERY. TIME., they crap on my floor.

that’s not even the worst part.  the very worst is that the cats are terrified, and they’re living upstairs.  their food is in the kitchen (where the stupid dogs are) and their litter boxes are in the laundry room, which is accessed through the kitchen.

at night, we crate the mutts in my work room, and the cats are finally free to run around their home.  I feel so bad for them, poor kitties.

laura and nathan should be home on monday, please pray that her dogs are still alive then.

 

rollin’ like lawrence welk

hi, my name is heidi* and I like bubbles.  I’ve had a problem with bubbles for many years, I’d say 30 or more.  I really don’t think it’s much of a problem, but my mother does, that’s why I’m here.  I could quit the bubbles anytime I want to…I really could!  I just don’t want to right now.

so, I really do love bubbles, that’s true.  but my love escalated a couple of years ago when I found a little bubble machine in the toy section at walmart.  Oh, man!  now I could have bubbles on demand, not just when I felt like blowing them myself (a tiring job) or when I could con someone into blowing them for me (that never happened).

we would have bubbles with our morning coffee and chat, with our evening wine, our friends also enjoyed my bubbles, they became conversation starters.  the kids and I enjoyed them in the afternoons; they would try to catch them, or hit them with tennis racquets, even recruiting the little boy next door.

so, my bubble machine and I had a fantastic relationship for 2 summers, it entertained countless children while doing my bidding~I suppose you could equate it to the court jester.  but this summer, it didn’t blow very well.  it was just tired, I reckon.

I went to walmart to find a replacement.  I picked out one just like the old one; the price was right and the old one had been good.  when I got it all unwrapped and batteried up, it wouldn’t work.  like an idiot, I listened to tony when he said, ‘maybe it needs some bubble solution to work’.  it didn’t…I returned it and decided to wait to find a replacement.

soon after, I found one in the bridal aisle.  I got that baby home and filled it up and man, oh man, the bubbles really fly now!  I’m keeping my fingers crossed that being made for weddings means it’s gonna hold up awhile.  but for now, I’m havin some fun.

and just for the record: bubbles do not interfere with my family relations, they have not replaced people in my life, and they do not cause my family to avoid me.

I just wanted to lay that on the table there.

*name changed to remain anonymous

 

we’re on the steps (road) to nowhere…

I’ve lived in this little town for 11 years now.  I have almost everything I want/need within about 20 miles from my driveway.  3 miles down my road is the little town of ruffin, where my church and favorite post office are.  on the north east lot of the cross roads are these steps:

I’ve always wondered why the steps were saved from demolition   when the house was done in.  they’ve always intrigued me, with their sad loneliness.

but all the brilliant green around somewhat neutralizes the sadness.  there’s just something here that pulls me in…

for several years, we had a little street (road) festival on this corner, to benefit the volunteer fire department.  this lot would fill up with tents: crafts, food, organizations.  and the steps would fill up with kids.  they would sit, people watching, gossiping, flirting.

I would like to know what these steps have seen in their lifetime…

,

 

a great mother’s day

rich took last week off work, with a list of things he wanted to accomplish.  I’m not sure how many he actually managed to get done, but he worked his tail off.  he worked over the weedbed, and we planted several pretties

I can’t even remember all the things we stuck in there, but I know I wanted moss rose for my wagon, and tony really wanted that lilyish thing there in the right corner.  in the summer time, we have an air conditioner in that window, hence the latice.  it’s been there for more years than I’d like to remember, bare as a baby’s butt.  I planted jasmine in front of it once, but my black thumb prevented it from prospering.  then I planted something else a couple of years ago, and it also died.

the bush in front of it will only bush out, not vine.  then, last night, my very generous neighbor brought me some clippings of this beautiful weedy fern that takes over her fence every summer.  it has red flowers and the hummingbirds and butterflies just love it.  so, I think I’ll pull out the bush thing and plant the vining ferny weed.

the pump in the corner came with us when we moved down here.  it’s been buried under weeds by an outbuilding in the back yard for 11 years now.  when we capped the well at the old house, I decided this would look great either in a flower bed, or in a fish pond.  it’s been gone so long, I had totally forgotten about it.  rich uncovered it when he cleaned up the weeds by the building so he could build me a compost container.

see the mushroom he got me for mother’s day?  I’d seen it at walmart, and told him that I wanted it.  I just think it’s so cute.  on either side of it are the azalea bushes that my boy toy jerry bought me.

for mother’s day, rich took tony and I out to ruby tuesday’s for lunch after church.  jessica was going to eat with us, but her manager changed her schedule, so she had to start at 10:30 instead of 1 o’clock.  so instead of eathing with her, we sat in her section.

having the hubs home for the week, and having a nice, relaxing meal with just my guys (not the whole fam like last year) made this the best mother’s day.

I hope y’all had a nice one, too!

 

stuck!!

 

finding that I’m biased, and not really liking it…

getting my nails done yesterday, I was watching cnn on the mondo screen tv. the sound is always down, so I have to rely on the ticker to know what’s going on.

one of the main stories was the miss usa pageant. based on the headlines, and statements printed across the bottom of the screen, I assumed that miss california lost the pageant because she answered the question wrong. I decided that perez hilton (I’ve heard of him, but I’ve never really been sure of just who he is) must have asked her how she felt about same sex marriage. I also assumed that she was for same sex marriage, being from california, and that because of that answer, she lost the pageant.

this upset me, and I thought to myself, ‘you go, girl! stand up for what you believe in!’

then, after several minutes, the headline finally read that she was against same sex marriage, and that’s why she thinks she lost the contest. I found that when I read that statement, that I was glad she lost.

this got me to thinking, and wondering about my beliefs/opinions/stance, what have you. I’m not sure I like myself, being the person who cheers for people who agree with me, and jeering the person who doesn’t. what do you reckon it says about me?

I have friends who have opinions who differ from mine. I accept their beliefs; why shouldn’t I? I have a friend who voted for (gasp!) mccain/palin…and she’s still my friend. in fact, she’s my very bestest friend. so, why is it that I accept her stance, but consider miss california wrong?

I like to think that I’m open minded and tolerant, but how can that be, when I get irritated with people who aren’t open minded? isn’t that a tad bit contradictory?

you know, there is a blog that I used to read on a regular basis, I even had it on my blogroll for awhile. I like this lady’s writing style, and I loved to look at her pictures and read about her family, but after she wrote a negative post about a popular 70’s disco song, I quit reading her. she mentioned the homosexual connotations of the song, and how it was being played at a youth event and it really bothered her. I thought about how I work really hard with my youth group, trying to teach them tolerance and acceptance (which is not always easy in the bible belt) and how I’ve played this particular song numerous times and they all love it. in all honesty, they probably have no idea of the meaning behind it, but still…

here’s what I now know (I probably knew it before, but didn’t acknowledge it) I’m biased toward people who agree with me, and antagonistic toward people who don’t.

but that’s not quite right, either. there’s another blog I read regularly, written by a woman who doesn’t believe in God. she doesn’t even question His existence, she just believes that He doesn’t exist. now, I consider myself a christian, I believe in God, and I know that I’m here, because it’s in His plan for me to be here.

and yet, I respect her, and even feel like we could be friends in real life if we lived closer.

I am also heterosexual, very much so. but I have many friends who are not, and I believe they should have the same rights as me. so, these are a couple of examples of people who don’t believe the same things I do, yet I’m not antagonistic toward them.

ugh. what does all of this say about me?

 

susan boyle rocks!!

this gal has the voice of an angel. I think I’m probably the last person on the planet to hear about her, but she rocks!!  I don’t watch television, and I only listen to regular radio in the early AM when the midgets are waiting for the bus, because at that time npr is talking about all the violence going on around us and I don’t like them to hear about all that junk.

so, thursday I’m listening to the lite station (ever notice how the lite/delilah station is always in the 99’s?) and the AM dj was talking about this frumpy lady who blew simon away.  I came in and played the video.  then I played it for rich, then jessica.  when I called mama to tell her about it, she informed me that it’s been all over the news.  so, I’m sure you’ve seen it, but just in case you haven’t, scoot on over there and see for yourself, she’s got skillz!

 

what was I thinking? or, a good time was had by all, but thank the baby Jesus it’s over!!

so, last wednesday, being the glutton for punishment that I am, I boarded a bus with a few other adults and a hundred million 5th graders (or maybe 40) bound for the great city of washington dc.  after many days and weeks (6ish hours) on the road, we finally arrived at the national cathedral.  it was beautiful in all it’s splendor.  the cathedral has an elementary school and 2 high schools, one for each gender.  we learned that a person cannot get married in the cathedral unless one of them graduated from there.

this is tony, bradley, and tony’s bff peter.  don’t they look like little dufuses?  see all the peeps from our group in the background, looking all touristy?

we got to dc around lunch time on wednesday, and left around supper time on friday.  in between those times, we visited EVERY monument and memorial ever built.  we toured the capital building, we saw the white house, complete with a rooftop sniper.  we ate in food courts, with hundreds of other people, all on tours like us.  most were school groups, but some were a bunch of adults, looking like they were having much more fun than  we school chaperones.

in all fairness, it would have been way more enjoyable had we not been so rushed.  on wednesday, we spent 45 minutes each in 3 different smithsonians.  now, really, how much can you possibly see in 45 minutes?  although, our tour guide said he wanted us to have a sampling of many things, rather than going home and wishing we had seen something else.

outside of the white house, we saw these hood figures in orange jump suits walking slowly towards us.  all the kids got real quiet and watched the men as they took up a stance in front of the white house fence to protest gitmo.  I’m somewhat confused, because I thought I heard on npr that obama gave the gitmo people until august to close.  maybe I misunderstood…it wouldn’t be the first time.

each parent had 2 or 3 kids, depending on which gender their child was.  since my young’un is a boy, I only had 2 girls, so I had a bed to myself.  tony was in peter peter punkin eater’s group, with peter’s daddy, buddy.  so, peter and his daddy shared a bed, and tony and bradley had the other.  about half the time, we hung out together.  my girls were tomboys, so they liked hanging with the boys.

at the korean memorial, there is a big pool (that’s one thing I noticed, almost every memorial had water of some sort) with coins in it.  so, I dug around in my pockets and gave the girls a few coins to toss.  right away, I heard one of the annoying teacher’s pet girls saying, ‘aww!  you’re not allowed to throw money in there, you’re gonna get in trouble!’  then I saw this:

oops!  we hurried around to the other side of the memorial, and acted like we didn’t know what was going on.

we went to arlington to see jfk’s grave, and the tomb of the unknown soldier.  we saw the changing of the guards, which was extremely cool.  4 kids were chosen from our school to lay a wreath at the tomb of the unknown soldier.  then another soldier played taps.  it brought tears to my eyes, to see the kids from our school.  especially the little boy, who is mildly autistic.  he’s so sweet and precious, I just wanted to squeeze him.  the teachers submitted all the names of the kids who were interested in doing it, then the principal pulled 4 names out of the hat.  unfortunately, one of the girls left her shoes back at the hotel, and no one had dress shoes she could borrow, so only 3 kids were able to do it.

westley was so proud and happy.  I hugged him and told him how handsome he was, and he told me that he had to borrow his daddy’s dress shoes because none of his were dressy enough.

doesn’t he look so sweet??

on friday, it poured rain.  wednesday and thursday had both been drizzly all day, but friday it rained buckets.  we went to yet more memorials, and were scheduled to go to the zoo.  it never made sense to me that we should go to the dc zoo, when we’ve got a great zoo here at home, and from what the principal said, our zoo was bigger.  well, I reckon she put a bug in the tour guide’s ear, because he said there was no sense in keeping the children outside in the rain for 3 hours.  hmm, seems like common sense would have dictated that.

so, we were given 3 hours to spend in any of the smithsonians we wanted.  the girls and I wanted to visit the museum of modern art; I because I love art, they because there was a giant iron spider outside.  the bus dropped us off outside of another museum, so the tour guide gave everyone directions to the museums of their choice.  well, in the chaos, we were directed to the national gallery.  by the time we got inside, we were dripping water from our shirts and hair.

the girls weren’t very impressed with a bunch of photos, but I could have spent some serious time there.  oh, well.  after about 20 minutes, the rain let up to a sprinkle.  this elicited lots of  whines, ‘man, we could have gone to the zoo after all!’

since the gulleywasher eased up, we decided to head over to the hirshhorn art museum.

the girls and the giant spider.  the artist, Louise Bourgeois, has 2 other spiders inside, in her exhibit.  she also has a fascination with body parts, so I tried to limit the girls’ exposure to alot of her stuff.

then we went downstairs and saw some AWESOME atwork, alot of it too graphic for the girls, again.  the downstairs exhibit is called something like ‘our bodies’ or some such.  I tried to enjoy as much as I could while protecting the girls.  I didn’t want them to go home and tell their  mamas I had taken them to a porno museum.  I could have spent all day at this place.  hopefully someday I’ll have the opportunity.

the most awesome magritte sculpture I’ve ever seen.  actually, it’s the only one I’ve ever seen in person.  there is also a sculpture called big man.  it’s fiberglass covered in pigmented resin.  this guy looks so realistic, from the veins in his arms, the wrinkles on his toes, to his expression.  he looks like if he stood up, he’d be 8 feet tall.  he’s also naked.  and uncircumsized.  so, I won’t put his picture up here, but I love this guy.  I really want to go back to that museum.  I’d really like to revisit dc, this time with my hubs and a young’un or two.

all in all, it was a good trip, but I’m not sure if I’d do it again.  maybe with some time, my answer may change…

gratuitous napping child