Dinner Club – Taste of Italy

Back in 2009 a group of friends and I decided to start what we called Dinner Club. I have mentioned this a few times I know. It was a lot of fun. At that time we had a few “rules,” 

  1. A non-chain restaurant
  2. Local – within about an hours drive or so
  3. The dress was business casual or dressier

That was about it. Business casual consisted of the ladies in dresses of some sort and the guys in khakis and at least a polo or button-down. We had a few dinners where the guys wore suits. This is why my husband owns a suit. Although he never wore it to a dinner club.

Side story:

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Orange Beach, Alabama – Part 3

Before you start, be sure to read Part 1 and Part 2.

We had a friend tell us about an Alligator zoo we needed to take the little one to. It was about a 20-minute drive outside out of Orange Beach, but totally worth the drive. I know I keep saying that, but it truly is.

Alligator Alley

19950 Co Rd 71
Summerdale, AL

We woke up early and drove out to Summerdale to go to Alligator Alley. We almost missed the driveway. Our directions said, turn left here and we passed the entrance because it blended in with the trees. When you bought tickets to get in, they had different size cups of feed you could buy to feed the alligators. Truthfully, it looked like horse poop. I’m just saying it like it is. haha.

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The Little’s Tree

I mentioned in the Chiefs tree post that the little took over the original Chiefs tree. The white tree is like 3 1/2 or 4 1/2 feet tall. I kind of forgot exactly, but Abug wanted her own tree and we had the ability to make that happen. In like September or August maybe even, we were at Hobby Lobby and they had their Christmas ornaments out. With the help of my mom, we got her a bunch of new ornaments for her tree. Now, this is where I note that last year when it had all the Chiefs ornaments, she took it over. And so we were adding to her ornaments not starting from scratch.

The ornaments were focused around things she likes, ballet/dance, tball, unicorns, and mermaids. Oh and ketchup, we can’t forget the ketchup.

I wouldn’t let my mom give her the ornaments until we were ready to put the tree up. I knew if we gave them early, she’d get so excited she’d want the tree up in August or September. While I’m all about putting up the tree early, that might be a wee bit early.

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Chiefs Tree

Honestly, I’m quite late on this, but better late than never. Now that we are in our own house, we had a little more room to put up more trees. We put up 3 in fact. You’ve seen the family tree which housed all the presents. Then both girls got a tree. This one was the Chiefs Tree for Tbug. She had options and this was what she wanted.

Last year at the end of the season I bought this tree. The funny thing is if you look at it, it almost has a silver tone to it. However, it was bought to be gold. So looking at the box, what was printed directly on the box says silver. The label Walmart put on it said Rose Gold. With the lights on it looked more rose gold so who the heck knows what color this tree really is. (more…)

Friendsgiving 2019

Friends giving tends to be a newer concept. One that I really only remember hearing about maybe 10 years ago or so now. It’s quite interesting though that it has caught on. I mean truthfully a lot of people celebrated this long before it had a name/concept.

This year we decided to start our first ever Friendsgiving. After the interesting year we’ve had, why not. While the outcome of the year might not be what we all expected, we still have a lot of things to be thankful for.

We started a Facebook group to see who was bringing what. I kind of waited until everyone else picked an item before I spoke up with what I was going to make. At first, I thought I’d make bacon-wrapped green beans, but then I decided to go with the Green Bean Casserole. I found a recipe online to make it all completely from scratch. I didn’t get my green beans thoroughly cooked though, so they were just okay.

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The Christmas Tree 2019

It would be funny if people didn’t know my favorite holiday was Christmas. Especially if you watch my Facebook page all year long. Now here is where I say that sometimes I post how many days/weeks/months until Christmas year-round just to be ornery for all the people who give me CRAP about it :). But somewhere along the way, this year hasn’t felt quite right. I haven’t been nearly as excited as I normally am.

A friend took it upon himself to try and help me get into the spirit. When it didn’t work, he eventually backed off. I told him not to but he did anyway. He said he shouldn’t cram it down my throat, but I told him that maybe he should. and while right now I’m still not 100% feeling it yet, I feel better about it. That might have come because I’ve been listening to Christmas songs since they came on Sirus XM radio. Or the fact that Hallmark has been playing Christmas movies around the clock since the weekend before Halloween. Quite possibly it could also be because our Christmas trees are up and decorated. Yes, I said trees, plural.

Whatever it is, I hope that it keeps coming! Last year at this time we were hanging in Limbo on if we were going to get our house bought or not. And I hung Christmas lights up the day we bought it. I got made fun of but I didn’t care. I threatened to put my Christmas tree up in our house but I didn’t. Instead, hubby and I got into a huge argument about actually putting the tree up and we almost didn’t. Then when it was up, the fight was still going on to the point I almost tore it all back down that day. And the fight… want to know what it was about? It was about putting up the tree. (more…)

4th of July Photo Journal – Family

I can’t believe we’re already on the downhill slope toward Christmas. Oy! If you watch Hallmark Channel, we’re on Christmas in July… round the clock Christmas movies. Gosh, I love Christmas movies, but that’s another post for another day. Right now, let’s discuss the 4th of July, again… one last time.

This will be in the form of hubby’s family. I only say that to distinguish between our two families although technically when we got married, they all became OUR family. Anyway… Just clarifying right there :).

Now one thing that I should point out just to remember is that Hubby and I were the last ones to the party for the most part. A couple of stragglers came in but, usually, we’re some of the first ones there. When we hosted it, we were first, now that we are just patrons (haha, jokes on them… just kidding) we’re still usually some of the first ones to show up. Then I had to leave to go back to my house to get a trailer to set up the fireworks on. 

When I got to the house, the joke was on me… hubby left his truck empty. I used his truck because at that time they were using the bed of mine to sort fireworks. I hopped in his truck and there were 27 miles to empty. Now, I could have made it to my sister-in-law’s and he could have made it from there to the gas station, but at that late at night, who wants to bother? So I stopped and got fuel for him. I might be nice sometimes, but don’t spread the word! (more…)

4th of July Photo Journal – Dive Club

I saw a meme on Facebook the other day saying something to the effect, 4th of July is over, it’s now time to get your Halloween costumes, your Thanksgiving menu, Christmas Presents, and we’re basically at the New Year, Happy 2020. Truthfully I might have giggled a little too much because… the way this year has been flying by, that almost seems real! Here we are 5 days past the 4th of July. Hello, July 9. We’re quickly approaching the dawg days of summer. It is finally getting hot and humid in Missouri. Yes, we have humidity. Yes, it’s horrible. You walk out of your house and feel like you’ve just walked out of the shower. It’s nuts.

Spring has been crazy around here. Tornadoes on top of tornadoes. Rain and flooding. Cooler temperatures… you name it, we’ve probably seen it. Except for a Hurricane. If we see a hurricane in Missouri, we have real problems. Did you know I’m only just a few hours away from the dead middle point of the U.S.? It’s up on the Kansas border near Nebraska. I’ve never been there although that’s on my list of things to do someday. Why not… 

I actually live in a part of Missouri where within 30 minutes you can be further into Missouri, into Oklahoma or Kansas or Arkansas. And there is a point over near here where you can be standing on the border of Missouri, Kansas, and Oklahoma. 3 states in one swoop. Honestly, I’ve never been there either although I’ve always been within a mile or so of it. Why I never stop I have no idea.

This year because the 4th of July fell when it did, we got to celebrate twice. Once with our diver friends and again with my husband’s extended family. I overheard that some people think the 4th of July is only about bbq’s, fireworks, and spending time with family. That’s totally inaccurate. It’s about the birthday of our country. On July 4th, 1776 our forefathers signed the Declaration of Independence freeing us from British control. It was only after a horrific battle called the Revolutionary War was fought and won. Just thought I’d throw that very broad, basic explanation out there for anyone who might be confused. Do they not teach that in schools anymore? Although the person who made the previous claim is closer to my age than not. I’m really confused.

4th of July

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Life Lately…

And just like that, it’s the middle of June. I have now slept in my house, overnight, 2 times. WHAT?!?! When did that happen? Well, I’m glad you asked. It happened Friday and Saturday night. Now, here we are Sunday night and I’m sitting in bed at my house. I was in the shower a few minutes ago reminiscing the last couple of months. Wow, it has been a whirlwind.

We have had tball practice, tball games, ended tball, made a trip to Kansas City for a weekend, made a trip to Kansas City for a day, had the last dance class for the year, had dance rehearsal, had dance recitals, had dance pictures, had tball pictures, bought furniture, put said furniture together.

The furniture consisted of (but not limited to) 3 desks, 3 beds, 6 chairs, 1 bench, 1 coat rack, 1 coat bench, 1 storage bench, 2 bookshelves, 1 vacuum cleaner, and whatever else I’m forgetting.

We have slept in our house, put pictures on the wall, restained a floor, put down new flooring, replaced tiles, found new tiles to replace, washed umpteen million loads of dishes, washed 548,912 loads of laundry, most of which happened this previous weekend.

Then we ended preschool, had preschool graduation postponed, had preschool graduation canceled, had flooding, had tornadoes, had more rain, had severe thunderstorms, driven into severe thunderstorms, hid in the basement during tornado warnings, started summer school, about to finish summer school and then… (more…)

Christmas 2018

This Christmas was quite a blur. Between buying and remodeling a house and Abug being at preschool, this Christmas season was quite the blur. They say that time doesn’t slow down, it only gets faster as you get older. I believe that is true. But I sure wish it would slow down!

This year for name tags, I printed off Christmas pictures from years past. I tried to include the person who the present was to in the tag, but that’s not always an option (ahem, my mother). I also tried to put bows on the packages. They were just so darn pretty. Especially under the tree.

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