Adios!

We're leaving in the morning and won't be back until June 13th. I may upload some pictures along the way, so check in every once in a while.

Miss y'all!

iPods, suitcases, checks and other stuff!

So much to do in the three days left. We still need to get our iPods situated. I finally got the knobs to my EZ Stitcher frame that I'm going to attach a cross stitch project to this evening. We have to pack...write out checks to the bills that will come in while we're gone...send invoices for the contracts I have...get the letter for the house/cat sitter completed...get contact information to our parents...sleep...

aaah! SO exciting.

4 days...

only 4 days until I leave and SO much to do and take care of...I'm so excited I can't sleep past 5:30. At least I'm moving TOWARDS Europe time.

More later!

Last night I dreamed...

That David and I were moving into this great big house in California. It had this huge living room, dining room and kitchen "great room" and then off to the right were the "adult"rooms. This included the master suite and three other rooms which I was going to use as a library, office and sewing room. On the other side of the house were four more bedrooms, a bathroom the size of my dining room and a storage closet. I was so excited about moving into this house because it was completely devoid of any character whatsoever, so we were going to be able to use the great "structure" to decorate around.

The problem was that the previous owners didn't get all their furniture when they left and ended up leaving us a HUGE mess that had to be cleaned up before we could move our stuff in. We were still cleaning when our guests arrived for the open house party.

When I was a little girl...

I went to South Dakota and saw Mount Rushmore with my grandparents and my aunt, uncle and three cousins. When I think about it now, I have no idea how 4 adults and 4 kids managed to drive 3000 miles in even remote comfort, but I don't remember feeling anything but excited and happy about being on the road. We drove hundreds of miles a day, but it was a fun trip filled with fun memories. It was the second trip I took with my grandparents, the first I went as the only grandkid and we only went to Wichita, KA, and back.

On this one, though, my Uncle Jerry and Aunt Mary were there as drivers. We did the traditional trip to Wichita to see the family and go to the minor league baseball playoffs. I never really liked baseball, but it was fun being someplace that was focused on celebrating. I got a bright orange baseball and had anyone who was running around in a baseball uniform to sign it. I then got a protective plastic display case and put it on my shelf in my bedroom where I showed it off for years. I think I thought one of those minor league players would be famous one day and I could sell the autograph for lots of money. If this ever happened, I never knew about it, so I didn't get rich.

After we left Wichita we drove north to Mount Rushmore. We stopped outside an Indian reservation to look at a giant totem pole, then drove through Black Bear National Park. That was really cool as the bears were everywhere and you could pet the babies. Then the great mountain with its awesome carvings. Unfortunately papa couldn't climb to the look-out observatory, so those of us who could practically had to run up there, take a photo and run back to the car. Then we were off again.

When we went through Colorado we stayed at a hotel that had an indoor heated pool. I remember being SO excited about going swimming, so I couldn't have been out of the car 5 minutes before I was jumping into that heated pool, that may have been heated to a grand total of 65 degrees. We ended up spending the rest of our play time in the hot tub much to the chagrin of the adults who were in there. (Years later when I was describing this hotel, David laughed and told me he stayed at the same place on a trip with his parents. He and his brother jumped in the pool, told their mother how wonderfully warm the water was and convinced her to jump in. I don't know if he has ever been forgiven for that.)

Then we were going to go to Silver Lake, CO, but couldn't get a room, so ended up driving and driving and driving over night through really cloudy mountain tops. I remember being really scared and then extremely relieved when they finally found a room where we could sleep. I thankfully slept on the floor that night.

At one stop, Donna and I bought all these funky looking playing cards. Some were round, some crooked, some slanted. We had a great time playing gin and go-fish to pass the time.

I think the trip to GA with my parents and the two trips with my grandparents were the grand total of all the trips I took with family as I was growing up. As a jr. high student I went to Washington, DC., New York City and Honolulu, HI. More on those trips in a future entry!

Book Review: The Elusive Flame by Kathleen Woodiwiss

I loved this book. I had so much fun reading a romance novel, and one by Woodiwiss. I haven't done that in years and years and years. Ever since I got serious about grad school, the romance novels went bye-bye. But what a big mistake.

Are they predictable? yes. Do the characters follow the same story arc every time? yes. Are all the men handsome? yes. Are all the women beautiful? yes. Do the couple have a conflict and refuse to talk to each other about their problems? yes. Does this lack of communication almost lead to them losing one another forever? yes. Do they eventually end up back together--often by happenstance? of course.

Do I care? not at all.

What fun I had reading this book. I loved it that Cerynice saved herself and her child in the end all by herself. That is certainly a departure from the ordinary in romance novels. I loved it that the whole story is an adventure. I am comforted by the fact that I know that the villains will meet their just reward and the good guys will too. I enjoy the fact that the book is historical and didn't even really care if there were silly mistakes (like the last of the azaleas dying out at the end of May in Charleston...more likely they would have been dead at the end of April, but that's such a picky point it's hardly worth noting).

So, yes, mom, I enjoyed this book and am looking forward to catching up on my Woodiwiss books!

Our Itinerary

I can count on my fingers the number of days I have left until we leave! I have so much to do in the meantime, both work related and trip related, that I don't know how I'll manage...but since I'll have to, I guess I'll just have to.

Our itinerary for those who are curious:

May 28-29: Rome
May 30-31: Tuscany and Florence
June 1-2: Venice--we have a whole day free to do whatever we want!
June 3-4: Austria--we're staying at a working farm near the town of Reutte
June 5-6: Murren, Switzerland--lots of free time to hike and relax in the Swiss Alps
June 7: Burgandy Region in France, we're staying at a working farm near a castle that is being built using tools and methods common in the 12th century
June 8-9: Paris
June 10-12: Amboise in the Loire Valley. This is where we leave our tour group and do things on our own.
June 13: Return home.

I'll have lots and lots and lots of pictures. Each one of us is bringing a camera with extra memory cards. And we're picture takers!

Travel

Several of you have asked when we'll be leaving for Europe...Sunday, May 27th at 10 am from Gulfport, MS. We fly to Atlanta and then to Rome. We should arrive around 9:30 am on Monday morning and will then go to our hotel, drop off our bags and begin to enjoy our day. To say we can't wait would be like saying, well, the most obvious thing in the world.

I think this trip has just about monopolized every aspect of our lives. When I get dressed or go to the store, I say, "wouldn't this be a cute outfit to wear in Europe?" When I exercise I like to imagine how it will feel being IN Rome walking through ancient city streets or hiking along a trail in the Swiss Alps. I try to keep my footing extra carefully just in case I'm in cobble stones. The girls can't wait to take pictures of themselves with hot Italian men (they're 15 and can't help themselves...). The beach time in Venice sounds "divine" to Alyssa. Seeing castles is going to be totally cool for all of us...not to mention Elizabeth getting to go to France and actually hear the language she's been studying for the past two years spoken. I hope she has the nerve to try to at minimum order some food. For David, the idea of being without cell phones, e-mail and other work stresses may make a rebel out of him yet.

We are taking a tour with the Rick Steve's Europe Through the Back Door tour company. I like Rick Steve's PBS travel videos and own a complete collection. I think he has an interesting philosophy about travel and tries to steer travelers away from traps and into pockets of unique history and culture. For that reason I'm extremely excited.

However, I don't really like to travel with a set itinerary. Years ago I discovered that on the Myers Briggs personality type indicator I'm a "ENFP", with the P being the most important component of my travel desires. P means perceiving and a P person likes to "go with their whim," to oversimplify it a bit. In a leadership seminar I attended, we even had to plan a vacation as a group of P's, while our opposite personality group, the J's (Judging) had to plan one too. When the J's got up to do their presentation they were all tidy and neat with printed out lists of what they needed and how they came to their decision. They went through step-by-step how they had planned their trip. Number one on the list: "budget." When the presenter said that, I laughed out loud. I was so embarrassed because it was a terribly rude thing to do, but our group NEVER EVEN considered how much money we had to spend. This is how "P" we were.

In fact, David and I are both strong P's. He hasn't been officially tested, but after reading the descriptions, and going through a few seminars, I can guess. When we travel, we always go independently, get in the car and go. My only requirements are that we have a hotel everywhere we plan to be and that there is a car rental secured. Then we get to our hotel, look around, examine some guidebooks, talk to some people, and set out to explore. We have found ancient stone circles, works projects in Ireland, the wonderfully cute town of Cobh in Ireland. Whenever we feel like it, we stop and take pictures. If we'd planned to do something and ran out of time, we know that there will be a next time.

When we described this travel ideal to our children back in the fall, they had the total "deer in the headlights" look. They were terrified of being lost in a country they've never been before. They said things like "but I want to go to the Collosseum" (so do I, but I guess my whimsy travel ideals made it sound like I don't also hit the big stuff). So as we talked, we realized that a tour would make them feel more comfortable, and to be honest, we'd feel more comfortable too because we'd have the freedom of knowing that we weren't making them miserable and thus them making us miserable.

And since we made that decision, booked our reservation for Rick Steve's Family Europe in 14 days, I have felt so relieved. I haven't had to think about train tickets, hotel reservations, or anything. We have several free days on the trip where we can go and do whatever we want to do, and in the meantime all the big sights have been reserved for us. My only concern is hanging out with 26 other people that I don't know and their kids. What if we don't like them? What if someone believes that their child is perfect and it doesn't matter if he's acting obnoxiously on the bus? We got our list on Monday and the first thing I noticed is that there is a family of 7. Our first assumption, of course, is that it's 2 parents and 5 kids...which is likely, but it could easily be 2 grandparents and 5 grandchildren, or 2 parents, 2 grandparents and 3 children. So, we'll see. But it's funny how every single one of our family noticed this and started making assumptions about the people who we only know by name...a potentially dangerous situation.

That said, I am approaching this trip with an open mind. My worries are there, but the absence of that huge burden of pre-planning has allowed me to relax and dream about all the cool stuff we're going to do, how much fun we're going to have, and still get my work done without being totally stressed. And that's a very good thing. And I'm really looking forward to spending time with the girls and David where we can laugh and have fun and get to know one another outside of our daily grind. And I don't think I could have said that a year ago.

When I was a little girl...

I went on vacation with my parents to Georgia to see our old neighbors. This is the only family vacation that I remember taking with my parents and brothers. (I know we went to the beach in Freeport when I was younger, but I don't remember those trips.) I was eight years old.

On this trip, we had my cousin Phil with us who was friends with the older boy of the neighbors--Jeff. Jeremy was around my age and we'd always played together as kids. In fact, I remember Jeremy coming over to our house after we'd oved out to the farm and playing "house" with me. He came home from work and started cooking dinner! I told him to get out of my kitchen and not ever come back. I probably ruined the boy forever now that I think about it.

The main things I remember from that trip are:

• All the seats were removed from the back of the suburban so I had to sit between my parents the entire trip while my brothers and Phil lounged around in the back.
• I spent all of my money at the first Stuckeys we stopped at. I don't think we'd even made it out of the state of Texas. I bought: a turquiose ring that was adjustable so I could wear it on any of my fingers, a glass water puzzle that had a red plastic mouse with a curly tail that you had to work through the loop at the top of the egg shaped dome, some yes/no books, and candy.
• My water puzzle got broken when Jeremy and I were playing "pool". We had put a bunch of toys in the pockets and were pushing the pool balls into the pockets, which of course meant the toy got broken. Paige insisted that Jeremy replace it with his allowance money so I got a stuffed parrot on a plastic branch that I still had when I graduated from high school.
• I slept on their brown leather couch and Jeremy didn't want to leave my side becuase he'd missed me so much, so he slept on the floor. I remember thinking I might get pregnant because I slept in the same room with a boy. Luckily I didn't! I wouldn't even kiss the poor boy good night!
• Going to the Battleship in Mobile, Alabama, and having to spend the night in Mobile on our way home because it was raining so hard. I think my daddy wasn't really happy about it, but mom refused to drive/ride any more in that weather. The tunnel in Mobile was probably the coolest thing I'd ever seen.
• Going to the Civil War Battleground in Vickburg, MS, where it was also pouring down rain. We ate our picnic lunch in the suburban because we couldn't get out of the vehicle without getting thoroughly soaked.
• We went to Stone Mountain, GA, which is a giant rock with a carving of some important Southern general. We rode a train which was ambushed by Indians. During the ambush, one of the actors lifted my dad's cap off thinking he was bald and had been scalped. I thought that was the funniest thing in the world.
• We also went to Atlanta and visited the underground mall which was supposed to be a subway at one point in time that was abandoned for some reason. I think this is when I went to the Madame Tussaud's wax museum and saw the Henry VIII and all his wives, including the one with the extra finger.

Clearly this is why I have such a travel bug...or maybe it's just in my personality and the trip to GA with my family helped me realize how much I love to go places and see things I've never seen before and will likely never see again...I hope my kids have as much fun and enjoy our trip to Europe as much!

Wal Mart

I've had posts on here about how much I hate shopping at Wal Mart here in Hattiesburg. We don't have enough stores in this town to accommodate all the shoppers' needs, so everyone and their baby goes to Wal Mart. It's crowded, there is never what you need in stock, and the store is usually dirty--and this is the "nice" Wal Mart that's clear across town from where I live.

We went last night after several nights of scouring the pantry for food. We all hate shopping so we put it off as long as possible.

BUT, the kids have had to start going with us after our little skirmish a couple of weeks ago...and I think they actually are enjoying going. They take a buggy and buy all the stuff they need, and we take our buggy and buy all the rest. They are usually done in time to help pick out produce, and it's a mad dash of Butlers running around the vegetable and fruit aisles with me hollering out to everyone what to get. We even got a few laughs last night when I yelled out to David to get "Four oranges, honey." (which I believe was because of my East Texas accent, and David believes it was because I was hollering...who knows...)

On our way home and afterwards I heard the kids mention that they actually LIKED going to the store to get all teir stuff. One of them said (and I can't remember who it was, bad parent that I am) that it was like practice for going to college. The other said that she was just happy to have caffeine again. I tried not to laugh too loudly for fear that I might scare them, but it was such a pleasing feeling to hear them actually acknowledge everything that I've been telling them all along!

I'm at a loss...

Of things to write about, and have been for a few days. I really can't wait to go on my trip, and I can't wait for the quilt bee...and I'm looking forward to summer being over with so the weather will cool off a bit. I always love 4th of July but since I'm not going to New Orleans until they figure themselves out, I don't know where to go find really good fireworks. We'll have to see about that.

At any rate, I'm simply in a big old writing slump because all I can think about is all the cool stuff I have coming up, and even I'm getting tired of hearing myself go on and on and on about Europe! And I really can't talk about all the wonderful cool things I have coming up with the quilt bee because of all the secrets I might reveal...

When I was a little girl...

...I had to wash clothes for the entire family. From as early as I can remember I thought washing clothes was extremely fun. I got to help Grandma and Papa T wash their clothes in the great big antique washing maching apparatus they had set up in their garage. It was a series of tubs, agitators, wringers, and more tubs. You filled some of the tubs up with water from the hose--Papa would usually start working on this first thing in the morning--others you left empty to catch the wrung out clothes. Then Grandma and I would separate all of their clothes, starting with light and then moving to darks. The clothes would hit the agitator, go through a wringer, fall into a rinse tub, where they would sit for a couple of minutes. Then they'd go through another wringer, another rinse, and I believe one more wringer, rinse, wringer cycle until they were ready to go to the line.

My jobs during this time were very important. I was to chase any buttons that popped off from the wringers and I was to scoop the soap bubbles out of the last rinse tub. For some reason, I remember it being extremely important that the last tub be immaculately clean of soap bubbles. I was never ever ever to stick my fingers anywhere near those wringers, as my whole body would go through it just like the shirts did and I would end up in the waiting tub all wrung out like a wet shirt--that thought made me very scared of those wringers.

Then Grandma and I would hang the clothes on the line. I was too short to reach the line, but I could hand her clothes pins and unfurl the shorter items like socks, underwear and wash cloths. There was always an order to hanging up the clothes and clothes always shared a clothes pin with another item of clothing. I can still see in my mind that line with the socks, stocking underwear (hers then his), night shirts, t-shirts, gowns, dresses and overalls--everything flapping in the wind. I always got to fold the wash cloths when we would go get everything off of the line later that day. Clothes washing days were some of my favorite with Grandma and Papa T.

I also was the clothes washer for our family. I learned that you had to keep towels and everything else separate or you got these pills on your clothes that were really unattractive. Most of the time we dried our clothes in the dryer, but I would also hang clothes on the line if the weather was nice. I hated hanging clothes on the line at my mother's house. I don't know why other than there were always spiders nesting in the little springs of the clothes pins, and there was a very agressive blue jay that lived in a nearby tree and believed that we were after her and her babies. She would swoop down and knock me on the head if I wasn't careful. I often had to wear the clothes basket on my head to keep from being pecked. I remember one time when Mom was trying to get me to hang the clothes on the line when I was a teenager and I really didn't want to for all of the above reasons among others (I'm sure I was reading some book or other than had completely captured my attention). At any rate, I cried "have you ever had to dry your face with a towel dried on the line?" I remember the scratchy towels hurting my skin. She lauged at me, as she should have.

But overall, I really really enjoyed washing clothes. I still do, and have about 6 loads of them to get done today!

Book Review: Aluburquerque by Rudolfo Anaya

As I mentioned a few weeks ago, I was pleased to read Alburquerque after attempting Jalamanta. The latter was such new age tripe and difficult to read that I put it down after two evenings of trying to make it through. The story seems that it would have been good if the language itself was accessible. I started Alburquerque right away to make sure that I didn’t need to get rid of all the other Anaya books on my list. I don’t.

This is a great book about a young man, Abran, who finds out that he is adopted at the age of 21 in a letter from his mother written on her deathbed. He goes to her side and she dies that evening, but he doesn’t know who is father is. His mother kept this secret in her heart and only his father knows, but had promised Cynthia not to divulge the secret.

The coming of age story is set in the midst of a mayoral race in Albuquerque, and Abran agrees to fight for Frank Dominic, a rich man who uses his power and money to get what he wants. Abran’s search finds him true love, friendship, and eventually a confidence that “he is who he is” (a theme that keeps repeating itself throughout the book—an attempt to remind Abran that even without the knowledge of his biological father, he knows who he is).

Well-written, well-crafted and a very interesting book to read, Alburquerque will be on my “recommend to others” list for some time.

2 Cross Stitches

Love's All by Notforgotten Farm Samplers. While I love this little lady, I will never work another pattern by this designer because the pattern was pitiful. I, who still have good eyes, couldn't read the differences between symbols without a magnifier, so ended up having to color the pattern in order to be able to do it with any semblance of ease. I even attempted to blow up the pattern more than two times, but then the ink was so light, that I still couldn't read the symbols. She's awfully cute, though.

A Wedding Sampler from a really old edition of Cross Stitch and Needwork Magazine. I loved this magazine when it used to be printed and have never found a good cross stitch magazine since. It's done on white linen with white threads, beads and ribbons. I made one in ecru for David's brother when he got married and was determined to make one for me when I had the chance...almost 10 years later!

Everybody needs a spa day

David and I went to the Point Clear Marriott Grand Hotel over the weekend. It may be the nicest hotel I've ever stayed at...it is definitely the nicest spa facility I've been in (considering that the number of spa facilities I've been in number probably 2 or 3 depending on what you count as a spa, I'm not sure how reliable my "nicest" is...but it was swanky...trust me on that!).

We decided to take a business retreat because we've been going crazy and nutty and not able to figure out what we need to be doing, so a few days of no other distractions would be good...and it was great.

I had a facial and a hydrotherapy bath. David had a massage and a hydrotherapy bath. I loved both treatments and can't wait to go back again. My friend, who we met for dinner Sunday evening, the day we had our spa day, commented that I sounded different on the phone. It was funny because I was commenting to David how much more relaxed I felt just from the previous time we'd made that very same drive.

I have a pile of work to do that just about meets my nose, so I really need to start tackling it, but I'm so relaxed that I'm not worried--it'll get done, it doesn't stress me. Just a little at a time and before I know it that stack will be taken care of.