When they get behind closed doors . . .

Mister had a rough Sunday.
He was good-natured about it though and stepped up when called into duty.  Not being one to shirk responsibility he bravely stepped forward, well, not actually forward, as this was more like a "special ops behind closed doors" type of situation.  .   . (Not to be confused with "Secret Service" type duty. *wink  *wink)

He was a Judge at our church

BBQ Cook-Off last Sunday.

Is he a trooper, or what?!

Yummy BBQ!

Lot of "Jumpies"

water fun . . .

Amd Congratulations to our BBQ Winner,

the guy holding the BIG

BBQ Trophy!

What a great sunny, southern afternoon

we all enjoyed!

Mudbug Madness

I grew up in Oklahoma

where we called these nasty things crawdads.

In Louisiana they are a delicacy

which they refer to as Mudbugs/Crawfish

because that sounds so much better.

Last Saturday we went to this

local festival.

The locals love to "suck heads".

I can barely watch this process.

Also there is a pungent smell that accompanies

these.  If you can imagine "sweaty socks

and eau de urine" then you've got an idea

of the odor  smell.  I suppose one has to be born

here to appreciate the local fare.

People stand at long tables to enjoy the food.

If you prefer your crawfish with a flair

you can opt for "Crawfish Tacos".

Or you could choose this as an alternative.

Me?

This was what I chose.

Some people ate. . .

some drank. . .

this guy walked around in a mega, maxi, HAT.

The band played and some folks danced.

I'm the lucky gal who sat in the shade and enjoyed

a foot massage, compliments of Mister!

Since we don't care for crawfish when we left

the festival we went to have Mexican Food.

Look what was on the menu?!! 

All together now, "YUK!" LOL

(This just cracks me up!)

No, we didn't order it, but it did

give us a smile.

*A.Perfect.Summer.Day.*

Our Wedding Night . . ."details"

Then
May 29, 1969

Now,
43 years later.

Happy Anniversary to us!

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

Now, you knew I couldn't just let this be without telling a story. . .

A long time ago, in a place far, far, away (Oklahoma), I was a young, naive, bride.  The wedding was over and off we went to a local hotel for our wedding night. 

When we arrived at our hotel room, I realized something was amiss.  The lovely hotel suite was built in such a way, with an arched opening to display the bathroom,
SANS A DOOR!!!
No door?!
Really?  Who EVER thought this
was a good idea????

This made the nervous young bride even more nervous.  No explanation needed.

I may have been nervous and naive
but I was also creative and hungry.
I had not eaten all day - "nerves".

I sent Mister back out into the night
to buy food for his starving bride.

Poor guy took out all alone to find food, driving our car with "Just Married" written all over it.  Quite the sight.

While he was gone, with lightning speed, I bathed, perfumed and readied myself for my groom, crisis averted.  Note to all builders: Every bathroom should have a door.  Just sayin. . .

I'll leave the rest of the story to your imagination,
except to say, I may have been wearing a beautiful white negligee as we ate our burgers, and we have had great fun telling this story
over and over and over and over. . .

Who needs music when you can dance like me?

I danced.
I shimmied.
I shook.
I waved my hands.
I did steps I had no idea I could do.

Then I made it through the front door
and collapsed onto the sofa.

Darn wasp got away!

By the time I made it to safety
I had sprayed all the porch furniture,
my new ourdoor cushions,
the shrubs (probably killed them)
and barely got away with my life.
I exagerate a bit.
My heart was beating like a
drummer at a rock concert,
and that's no exageration.

True Confession #1:
I don't have a brave bone in my body.

True Confession #2:
I.HATE.WASPS.

BananaRanaDiana

Edited to add the update to a previous post, "Mean Girls".   My Granddoll received a call today saying "the pants came through the family laundry".  Don't know if it was the daughter or the Mom who called, but either way, the pants have found their way home.  Problem resolved.

Now, on to a much happier subject -

Look what I came home to find!

Do you see it?

Don'cha just love to get mail?!

We were so EXCITED!

...and I do mean "we"!

Awwwww, a beautiful card on

the very top.  I knew this was

gonna be good!

It's exactly what I thought it would be. . .

Goofy, Funny, Witty, Silly,

Sweet Nana Diana gave me this

because I gave birth to a baby boy

in 1973.  She is "that kind of girl" and if

you don't know her you need to jump to her

blog and sign on to "FOLLOW" 'cause she is

a "Hoot & a Holler", and you know you don't

want to miss out on something/someone

like that!

Here is the lovely plate in it's new home.

From Wisconsin to Louisiana ,

"Thank You, sweet Bloggy Friend"!

And just as I was taking the packing out of the

box, look what I found!

She knows I have a sweet tooth.

(I had to quickly take this photo

before I "snarffed" these babies down!)

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

This is a photo of me and my first son.

(taken last Christmas)

Just a bit of trivia - He was born on May 10, 1973.

I weighed 113 lbs when I gave birth to him.

He weighed 8lb 8 oz.

"Believe it or Not"!

Stepping in "it"!

Mom and I on Mother's Day

5/13/12

"Thank you God for my Mother"

~Amen

* * * * * * * * * * * *

We were in Tulsa on Mother's Day

so I got to have a nice, long, visit

with my Mom.

I gave her a Mother's Day gift,

then Princess gave her a gift which

she had bought for her, using her own

money - a cactus plant which

had a lovely red bloom on it.

(Mom has a collection of

of cactus.)

Mom laughed when she read the label

on the cactus container.

Do you see it?

"Old Lady Cactus"

There was a time when she would not

have found this funny, but not

on this day.  Whew!

Neither Princess, nor I, had noticed

the name of the cactus.

Talk about "stepping in it" - we did!

Had I noticed I would have marked

through it with a marker!

"Sometimes the best of intentions . . ."

Mean Girls

This post is the stark opposite of yesterdays post.  Yesterday I talked of honesty by a complete stranger; today I talk of dishonesty by someone who was thought to be a friend.

Our oldest granddoll is 13. 
She loves the glitz and glammor of make-up and fashion - nothing unusual for a girl her age.  She also loves the Kardashians.  She watchs their TV program and thinks they are "beautiful".  When we asked her what one thing she especially wanted to see/do while in NYC she said she wanted to go to the Kardashian boutique, "Dash".  So, we made a special trip to SoHo so she could "live her dream".  She had bought some souveniers for her family but was saving her "mad money" to purchase something special from the boutique.

Everything was quite pricey for the budget
of a 13 year old.

She had a tough time deciding how to spend

her money.  She asked my opinion and I

suggested she call her Mom. 

When it was all said and done she purchased

a $50 pr of yoga pants with the "Dash"

logo on them.  She loved them.
(She even bought them a bit large so
she could wear them
for a loooong time.)

She slept in them that night.

She wore them on the flight home.

The next night she wore them

to a sleep-over at a friend's house.

The next morning they were GONE!

She had changed into pj's around 2 am

and the next morning they were not

in her bag.  She discreetly looked

through the girl's bags; the pants

were not there.  Two of the girls

had already left, so she feels certain

one of them took the pants.

The only place the pants can be bought

are at the boutique.  They are not sold locally and they are not sold online.  Whoever took the pants cannot wear them, as everyone will know they are stolen, but she CAN keep my Granddoll from wearing them and enjoying her "splurge".

MEAN GIRLS!

Found: a HERO!

When I write I prefer to use the word "adventure" rather than "goof-up", even though there is a part of me which knows this is not correct.  Let's just say that "adventure" seems to follow me with regularity, and leave it at that. . .

Take a close look at this handsome young man

in the middle.  He is a Hero!

One of my favorite things about NYC was seeing Central Park.  It was a great place for photo ops.

We spent some time here taking photos and enjoying

the beauty of the day.

THEN, we hailed a taxi and headed for

the SoHo district. . .we were almost there

when I discovered I had forgotten my camera,

leaving it on a bench in the park.

Suddenly I felt like a sad child and my two

lovelies began to console me.  They insisted we go back to the park - I knew it was a useless

cause as approx 40 min would have lapsed

before we could even get back there.

They continued to INSIST, soooooo, we told the taxi driver to

take us back to where he had originally

picked us up.

He did.

We jumped out of the taxi -

the girls left me waiting on a street corner

and they took off running at full speed

back into the park.

They returned only minutes later,

out of breath, smiling ear to ear,

carrying my camera.

Can you believe it?!

The story:  they returned to the park bench

which was surrounded by a class of students.

The cute guy in the photo had just at that

moment found the camera and was turning

it in to the teacher.
He could have pocketed
the camera and no one
would have ever known,
but he didn't.

We didn't get the boys name

but the teacher did take a photo

to "capture the moment".

So it was $15 (taxi) to SoHo,

$15 back to Central Park,

and then

$15 back to SoHo,

but it is something the girls

and I will always remember,

PLUS

I.Got.My.Camera.Back.

(If you follow my blog regularly you

will remember that I had just

bought this camera.)

What an GOOF-UP  ADVENTURE,
and a great reminder that there
are good, honest, people
who live among us.

Foodies in the City

I don't really consider myself a full-fledged "Foodie" but I do find people's likes and dislikes of food interesting.  I hope you do too.  On our trip we had no plans for where we would eat.  We were simply there to see the sights and eat "wherever" when it was mealtime.  This is some of our "Favorites" and "not-so-favorites".

We ate lunch here. 

It was a scheduled lunch stop on our

day tour.  We loved this place.

We each ordered different entrees and

we all agreed that mine was the very best,

though they were all good.

I had the Penne ala Vodka.

It was WONDERFUL!!

I'd never had it before but have just

recently heard about it several times,

once on the Rachel Ray show and then

again on The Housewives of New Jersey.

If you have a recipe for it please send it my way.

Otherwise I will find one online to try.

I've gotta figure out how to make this,

it was THAT good!

I had been told to be sure to eat some

"Frozen Hot Chocolate" while we were visiting.

I found it just "so-so".

It seemed like semi-melted chocolate ice cream

with whipped cream on top.

Not bad, but nothing special.

You could order this treat in several different

restaurants so perhaps it would have been

better at a different location.

Still, it was fun to try something new.

Granddoll and Princess had Root Beer Floats.

I don't think there is such thing as a bad

Root Beer Float.  They loved them.

Street Vendors were scattered among the city.

We wanted to be sure to eat from a vendor

at least once while we were there.

I looked for a Nathan's hotdog vendor,

but never saw one.  Sabrett vendors

were the only hotdog vendors I saw while there.

The day we went to the Met there was a vendor

who was doing a BIG business.  People got

their order then sat on the front steps and

ate as street performers entertained.

I got this hotdog. . .

The girls ordered pretzels.

The hotdog was the worst I've EVER had.

It was not just a little bad, but a LOT bad,

yet the line was long with people

ordering them.

?

The girls were disappointed with their

pretzels too - doughy and blah,

not nearly as good as the

"Annie's Pretzel's" we are

used to here.

We tried to eat them but ended up

trashing them and buying some

ice cream from the only other vendor

around.  Yes, it was ice cream for lunch.

Delicious!

We had some YUMMY NYC cheesecake

while we were there - the best I've ever had!

Unfortunately we snarffed if down

before I thought about taking a photo.

Princess also ordered some type of

Mexican buritto from a vendor

on another day and she LOVED it!

As with most things,

we felt the foods we tried

were a mixture of both

the good and the bad,

but always fun!