While B-rad's away, I will play...

B-rad took a little road trip with his buddy, Hoosier, to go down to Tennesse or North Carolina or somewhere to ride his motorcycle at this place called Deal's Gap. Now-I'm super confused because I heard it called a bunch of different names while he was gone. "The Gap". "The Dragon". "The tail of the dragon". I just know it's a really curvy road & they can lean their bikes waaaaaaay over & 'drag some knee'. (Apparently this is super fun... Eh, who knew?!) And this place is FAMOUS for this stuff. There are people there set up with cameras (magazines, etc.) taking pics of the bikers. Here's one B-rad found of him on-line last night...

I was all excited because he was leaving & I could do whatever.I.wanted. To be clear, I pretty much do whatever.I.want anyway, but this was different. You know, I didn't have anyone saying,

"Are you gonna make anything for lunch? I'm hungry."

"When are you gonna do laundry? I don't have any clean underwear."

"I came to bed last night & you were on my side & you wouldn't move & I had only thissmuch of the bed to sleep on."

You catch my drift... Alas my big plans of laying around & eating peanut butter cups all weekend were thwarted because I had other things to keep me occupied. Sigh. But ya gotta make hay while the sun shines, right? Right!

Here's how my weekend played out:

Friday- Had dinner with fellow blogger, JLL. She couldn't come to our jewelry sample sale BUT she wanted to look through my pieces for sale to see if she could find anything that struck her fancy. We ate at El Nopal on Charlestown Rd. It was really yummy. After dinner, I ran over to Kohl's (I mean, I was that close, it's gotta be against some kind of rule not to stop?!). I just wasn't feeling it. I didn't find any clothes I liked. I did find a purse (shocker...) & I carried it around for a bit & then changed my mind. I left empty-handed. Sigh. I got home around 9:00. I was sooo tired that I went to sleep around 10:00. I heard from B-rad earlier in the day that they had made it to their dragon-tailed gap place. He had absolutely NO cell service. There was wi-fi in the hotel lobby so he would send me emails with updates. (I had told him to be careful & not do anything stupid & get hurt because if I had to take the time to drive 6-7 hours to get to him, he would wish he was dead. Just sayin'...

Saturday-Our annual hostess/customer appreciation jewelry sample sale was from 10am-2pm. I had to be there at 9am & it takes me an hour to get there. Whilst I have no problem staying home alone, I do get a little scared sometimes (okay, alot...). I hear noises & then convince myself someone is hiding in the house to pounce from the shadows & kill me. Soooo, I didn't get much sleep. I was awake at 5am & fell back asleep around 6 only to have to get up at 7 to get ready for my day. The sample sale went really well. I invited 75 people...& 2 showed. While I'm grateful for the 2 that showed, I was also a little disappointed. But, it is what it is. There are lots of ball games, family reunions & vacations going on right now. I know people are just busy, busy, busy. My jewelry friend, Rose, was there & we had decided we were gonna hang out & shop & catch up after the sale. We went to Clarksville to shop! On our way there, Shauna (Hoosier's wife-the one off the grid with B-rad) called to ask if I could meet up with her & take her to pick up her car. Rose & I got done shopping around 6 & that was just about the time Shauna was ready for me to pick her up. I sent Rose down the road for her 2 hour (!) drive home & ran over to Shauna's. We ate a quick dinner at Tumbleweed & then went to get her car. We got back to her house around 9. She was going to play cards & asked me to tag along. I.was.exhausted & said, "no way, I gotta go home!" I got home around 10, went to bed at 11. One of the most exciting parts of Saturday was that the new cell phone cover I bought came in the mail! It's ghetto, it's blingy & it's purple! And I LOVE IT!!!!

Sunday-a stupid storm came through about 4 am & I woke up to turn the tv on to see if there was another stupid tornado warning. Nope, just stupid thunderstorms so my booty went back to bed. I slept in until 9am. Heaven... I got up & did a few things around the house & then I had to get ready for a jewelry show. While I was drying my hair, I felt a tick. GAG! It was on my head in the back where I couldn't see it. I called Mom to see if she was home & could get it out. Nope, not home... I called Lora to see if she could get it out.... Nope, she wasn't home either. B-rad wasn't back from his adventure & I just couldn't stand the thought of that nasty little creature sucking the blood outta me until that evening when he got home. Luckily, Lora was going to be at the jewelry show I was doing & she said she'd get it out when she got there. Oh yes, she pulled that tick outta my head before my jewelry show. A girls gotta do what a girls gotta do...

I was home from the jewelry show around 5 & laid on the couch to nap. I heard B-rad pull in & start to un-load the trailer. He came upstairs & talked a thousand miles a minute about all their fun. Perhaps the most fun thing was them both getting tickets for going 70 in a 45. Hmph. An $171 ticket. (Good thing B-rad has an account for his own spending money. He emptied it buying stuff for his bike for this trip, but he's gonna have to budget $171 back in for that ticket!)

B-rad was a good boy & took some good pics of their trip. I considered for a milli-second to let him do his own post. But I'm way too much of a control freak for that. He will have grammatical errors & his spelling is atrocious. I just can't handle that. I will just have to be the vessel to tell the story of the 'dragon tailed gap' place...

Lets talk turkey...or ham...or raw fish...whatever floats your boat

It's blog-off time again. The time where we come together to talk about what we like or don't like about a pre-determined subject. This session is all about our favorite foods & our favorite places to eat.

I don't really have a favorite food. I like food. Duh... But to say something is my absolute, most positively, most awesomest thing to eat? Nope, I got nothin'...

I love good, ole fashion home cookin'. (You know...what I DON'T do?!) Anything fried & mashed potatoes...mmmmm. I will say I love potatoes. I haven't met a potato I dont' like...except sweet ones. Which is strange because I'm a sweets kinda girl. More on that later...

Mom makes us our choice of dinner every year for our birthdays. I usually go with Swedish meatballs & mashed 'taters. And it's a double score when B-rad's birthday rolls around because he 'doesn't care' what she makes...so I pick that meal too!

Some people are 'salty' people...I'm a 'sweet' people. Candy - cookies....heaven.... My fav are chocolate chip cookies. Fresh baked outta the oven are the very best, but I will splurge & buy Soft Batches. Dang, I'm getting hungry... My favorite candy is hands down Reese Peanut butter cups. Be.still.my.heart. I also enjoy when the holiday's roll around & you can get the variations on the peanut butter cup: trees, hearts, pumpkins, eggs. Ahhhhhhh.... I'm also a big fan of tootsie rolls. Basically anything chocolate, I'm your gal!

Again, I dont' really have a favorite place to eat. I really like O'Charley's because of their rolls. I'm also a bread lover. (See the theme here? Love potatoes. Love bread. Love carbs... Sigh...) I really enjoy eating at Culver's in Corydon (I don't know if you guys have those 'in town'.) But the best part of eating there is the frozen custard. It's like ice cream so you get dessert when you're done! Score! My fav dessert there is the turtle sundae. Basically a turtle candie poured over ice cream. Carmel, chocolate, pecans...yum-my...

You speak, I listen

Ok, stalkers....you asked for it... the blog off is on like donkey kong.

First up on the list of pre-approved topics is our favorite places to eat & our favorite foods. (Now I'm hungry.... sigh...)

Ready, set, eat...er I mean, blog! Lets have 'em done by Saturday, the 25th... (And ginmommy, no I will NOT try sushi even if you have a whole, entire, hilarious blog post about it. Amen...)

Funniest.story.ever

**First I must say my blogger is acting funky. It won't let me center my post NOR make it purple. Hmph. AND it's some kinda bold weirdness with some italics placed in the wrong spots. I can't preview it either so I cannot be responsible for how this post looks. And ya'll know this control fuh-reak doesn't like that! I don't know what's going on but it's uber annoying**

Friday night, my friend Shauna & I were supposed to go out. Ya know - just dinner & a movie. Our hubbies are going out of town together this coming weekend & we had planned it for when they were gone. However, we (Shauna) got our wires crossed & she has to work this weekend so we rescheduled for this past weekend.

It's a long story (like THIS one's not gonna be...psssh) but she wanted to know if the boys could come. B-rad couldn't put down nitrogen because it was too wet so I said, "sure...the boys can come..." (That was my first mistake....)

We went to 4th Street to eat dinner. We saw there was a concert stage set up with a few people hanging out around. I figured it couldn't be anyone too big because surely they wouldn't be at 4th Street? We ate at T.G.I. Friday's & I had a drink with dinner. (That was my 2nd mistake....)

The boys blabbed about boring motorcycle stuff & Shauna said, "Is this all their gonna talk about?" To which I replied, "Hey, you're the one who wanted to bring them!" This became the running joke all night.

Ok so after dinner, we are standing on 4th street & Shauna was smoking. She knows I don't like smoke & she's pretty considerate about that. All of a sudden, I had ashes on me. I said, "Sheesh bitch, can you NOT flip ashes on me?!" (Let's alllll remember I had a drink. Jaime Mac + drink = even looser lips...) She said, "IT WASN'T ME!" as she proceeded to wipe ashes off my chest & hair. When she was finished, I said, "Geez, I think you missed a spot..." So she uhm, er, uh grabbed my chest... (this was the beginning of the end of the nice lovely evening...) We soon realized somebody on the walkway above us had dropped their ashes on me so we decided to re-locate.

As we walked past the stage, there were a TON of people there. Like I'm talking where there were maybe 10 when we went in, there were now hundreds. Shauna asked a chick on the front row who was playing. She said, "Thompson Square." I said, 'Hmph, I don't know who THEY are!' So she said again, "Thompson Square?" "UH, Nope, still dunno who they are." Then this chick says to me (serious as a heart attack) "Are you gonna kiss me or not?!" UHM hold up. Pump the brakes. So I replied, "Me? No - not right now....!" And she just kinda stared at me. I said, "Oh, don't get me wrong, you're a catch, but you're just not my type." Then Shauna starts screaming at me, "That's the name of their song!" Ruh-roh.... I think the chick that propositioned me was more embarassed than I was. She turned red & all kinds of colors. I just laughed it off & was like ,"Oh, I don't know them OR their song...I just thought you wanted me to kiss you..." Tee. Hee. Errr. Uhm, gulp.

So we decided to get the hell out of 4th Street. People there are ca-razy. B-rad was driving & downtown Louisville is like Beirut to me. I have no clue where I'm going. One way streets confuse me & I just crawl into the fetal position & suck my thumb. We came up on a street (NO CLUE which one...I just know it was near the Kentucky Center for the Arts). There were police cars in the road. And lots & lots & lots of people. Then I saw cheerleader lookin' people with pom-poms & I was like, 'OH, it's the Cardinal Caravan! I saw they were gonna here on tv this morning!' Then I saw lovely colorful flags. Like blue. And red. And orange. And purple. And then I was like, "UHM is this a gay pride rally or what?!"

Then we turned the corner. And we saw cars lined up. With poster board signs that said, "GAY PRIDE" Holy crap, it WAS a gay pride parade. There were people (I dunno if they were men or women...) in leather vests, pants & hats. And others in frilly stuff & tu-tu's.

I thought we were gonna die laughing. It was quite the gay inspired evening (not that there's anything wrong with that...). But if I learned nothing else from having Shauna grab my chest, being propositioned to kiss a chick or the gay pride parade is this: whilst drinking makes my mouth even mouthier, it also disables my abilities to think clearly enough to realize I need to get my dang camera out & takes pics. I didn't take one pic the whole night. (LOSER!) I would've loved for you stalkers to see the gay pride parade... & of course, my new girlfriend.

Derik's graduation

Last weekend (yea, I know - I'm behind!) our nephew, Derik, graduated from high school! For those of you that know Derik & his story - you know how important this day was for him & his family!!!

I had to break out the big lense for this one! We sat pretty high up & I had that bad boy zoomed all the way in! How handsome is he?! Love that sly 'Derik' grin!
I was lucky I was sitting in front of his dad. He played to his dad the whole time & I was lucky enough to have the lense to catch it!

Eh, no big deal...I'm graduting... let's do this...

Derik Tyler Lowhorn!! So proud of him!

You can't really tell because the dude in front of him has a blue cap, but he's holding up his diploma & flashing his dad the peace sign. I love this pic. It's totally Derik...

Moving over their tassels. Just to make it official & all...

Love this shot B-rad got of them throwing their hats in the air. The principal told them they couldn't do it. Heck, MY principal told us not to throw ours. But it's like a right of passage. You just have to throw your cap. Grown ups are soooo borrrring...

When we finally found him afterwards, he had already taken off his cap & gown! Pssssh. No worries - I chastised him for that...

Quick pic of us with the graduate...holding his diploma... & cap & gown...

Lora had his par-tay the next day. She had SOO much good food! She got the cake from Sandy's in Borden. It looked (& tasted) great!

Cookies... oh, the cookies from Sandy's. They are what dreams are made of. Under the diplomas are caps. The attention to detail is amazing.

Derik with the cake table.

Lora brought some things from his younger days & put on the table. I love this one. It's pictures of him from kindergarten until Senior year. I remember them all...

His senior pictures...

Eric has been kicking around the idea of getting a fancy schmancy camera. So I gladly let him use mine (while I was close enough to make sure he didn't hurt it...) It's funny going through my card to see all the random pics he got. And since the blog is mostly (ok, all) about me, I'm gonna share the ones of me....

Wow, check out that hair. Can you tell I was hot? Frizz-o-city... (& I've even been using Frizz-ease on my hair. Can you imagine if I hadn't?)

Pretty girls!

B-rad took this one... That's a major close up...

My foot? UHM-I don't get it...but my flip flops are super cute, huh?! Target, baby!

This one Eric took really impressed me. I told him it would've been even better if Derik had been sitting there!

Back to our datin' days

When B-rad & I were dating, I use to go ride in the tractor with him all.the.time. That was the only way I got to see him or spend time with him... & way back then - I wanted to be with him all.the.time. Oh, to be young again. Sigh.... (We will be married 12 whole years next weekend! Wow!)

I tell him now, "I live with you. You come home everynight. I don't have to ride around for hours on end in the tractor to see you." Plus, I was a lot younger & a lot, uhm, thinner so it wasn't too bad being smooshed in a tractor for-ever...

Friday night I took him Subway for dinner in the field.

B-rad: "Hey, wanna ride around with me while I plant the top field?!"

Me: "UHM, how long will THAT take?"

B-rad: "Oh, probably just an hour or so."

Me: "AN HOUR?!"

B-rad: "Oh, you're not going to do anything at home except for watching tv!"

Me: "But I love tv..."

B-rad: "Oh, c'mon. It's not gonna kill you!"

Me: "It COULD & then you'd feel bad!!!!"

After I rolled my eyes & stomped around for a minute...I said, 'Ok, I guess....' (I also wanted to ride in the new tractor. I have to help pay for it, I might as well check it out...)

Farming is science now. Gone are the days of planting the seed willy nilly & just waiting & hoping for it to grow. They do soil tests to know what chemicals need to go on the ground to help the seed grow. We were planting a little tiny section & I asked B-rad why he would waste seed (the planter has 16 rows...) for a super tiny area? He said, "The gps knows where we've planted & it turns off the rows that it doesn't need. We're only planting 4 rows right now. The monitor shut it off." Oh, shut the front door! That's just cool!

This was my seat. This tractor has a 'buddy' seat. But it's not too comfy. I mean, it's better than some of the tractors I rode in years ago...but like I said - younger & thinner... See B-rad's seat? It's air ride & super comfy. I wanted to sit in that one...he wouldn't let me! Hmph...

The view from the buddy seat...

Planter reflection in the mirror...

The new tractor is really cool because you can see so well in it.

A major disadvantage of being cooped up in a small, contained area with B-rad is that it can be hazardous... if you catch my drift...

This picture was meant to show just how easy it would be for me to be smooshed by the tractor tire. This is looking out the door from the buddy seat. I told B-rad, "If I fell outta the door, you would totally run over me." The steps are the silver blurry things & the big ass dual tires are the black things behind them. Lights out, people...

After 2 hours (!) in the tractor, we were done with the top field that was supposed to take an hour. Boy, does that B-rad know me. If he told me 2 hours I never would've stayed! I also have several mementos to remember my time in the tractor...humongous mosquito bites! These things must've been as big as 747's because I have huge, swollen bites on my legs. Everytime they itch, I think of B-rad...

Brady's 8th grade graduation

'Tis the season for graduations, graduation par-tay's & forking over cash like an ATM. While some of you are experiencing your own dna's graduation - we are experiencing graduations of our nephews.

Brady graduated from the 8th grade Thursday night! We had to pry B-rad outta the field with a crow bar, but he made it. He said Brian had asked him the night before if he was going & he said, "Uh, yea. I was pretty much told I had to go." Awww, he does listen...

Waiting for the ceremony to begin, the cell phone game playing was in full effect... Twins anyone?!
Brady in his seat excited & ready to go. Ok, he's ready to go...not really excited... The principal gave a little speech thingie to the kids on the "ABC'S of learning." It was painful to sit through. She went through every.single.letter.in.the.alphabet...

The only person more bored besides us & Brady...

was this dude...

The question I was most asked that night was, "What are YOU doing here?!" My reply? "My nephew is graduating!" "Ohhhhhhh." was the most popular response... It became quite comical! B-rad & I knew A LOT of people there. And their kids were graduating. 8th grade. Gulp. As I looked around the gym at all the faces of people we went to school with, I kept thinking, "I'M not old enough to have a kid in the 8th grade!" UHM-but I am. I'm 35, Brady's 14. You do the math....

And this is why I know it's not in my dna to have kids. Instead of sitting there thinking, "Wow. I could have a kid in the 8th grade graduating. Wouldn't that be swell?" I was actually thinking, "Wow. I'm so glad I don't have a kid in the 8th grade! Can you imagine?!" Sorry, stalkers...it is what it is...

Back to the borrrrring speech. Like I said, we knew lotsa people there & a couple of girls I knew were behind me. The one directly behind me & myself were talking & laughing & making fun of that ABC's speech. (She said she quit listening at C. B-rad said he quit at A. After letter F I said, 'is she doing the WHOLE alphabet?' Then at letter R I said, 'She IS doing the whole alphabet!' Sigh.) Her sister was behind her & she told us to pipe down in the front! I said, "Ok, please don't throw cheerios at me!" (She has a 15 month old & she was giving him Cheerios...) Next thing I know, I feel a Cheerio hit me in the knee.... Nice!

Hey - there's fellow blogger Kiersten graduting! Congrats, Kiersten!

Getting ready to get his certificate! Thrilled, isn't he?

Kinda blurry. Apparently he was in a hurry to cross that stage!

This dude was decked out! B-rad goes, "Check that dude out! Looks like he drove himself here!" Very funny!

Afterwards I offered to take pics for Lora of their family. Then the in-laws kept adding people to her picture & it grew & grew. I had taken the fancy schmancy camera with me. The drawback of the fancy schmancy camera is that no one can really use it. I wanted a pic of B-rad, Brady & I & gave the camera to Stanley. Here's the first one he took...

And the next one... Amateur...

They had added B-rad's grandma to Lora's pic & then added me & B-rad....

But I was adamant & stuck to my guns about getting a pic of just us with Brady. Here we are!

We went out to eat after the ceremony. B-rad & I got there after everyone else. We kept stopping in the gym talking to people! (I told ya we knew like everybody there!) There were like 20 of us in a room at Beef O' Brady's. Man, I felt bad for that waitress!!!

We gave B-rad's mom her mothers day gift finally. She's not been home since before mothers day...don't judge us...

Eric, Erin & the girls came home after Eric got off work so they weren't able to make graduation but they met us all for dinner. Erin sat with B-rad & I so I was able to catch up with her. I haven't gotten to see her the last few times she's been home! Aren't we purdy?!

Feeding frenzy

So I told ya'll about Sparky & his medicine, right? And you remember how I told you he goes berzerk & foams at the mouth & flails around, right?

I was complaining about it to Shauna (shocker...) & she told me to take his medicine & mix it in tuna fish. The smell of the tuna would overpower the medicine & he would eat it. I was willing to try anything. B-rad's not been home or able to take the time to help me give it to him & there is NO way I can give him the medicine by himself. Sonny, maybe? He's WAY more docile, but it's still not easy.

This is what my life has become. 2 containers. One for each kitty. (See the papers? Their names are on them so I don't mix them up!) I squirt the appropriate kitties medication in their container & then mix in tuna fish. Sigh. The dog caught a whiff of that fish & went crazy!
She nearly knocked me down to get it. Alas, dog, this is the kitties food.

'Sparky, it's time to eat.' Oh-you want to rub the chair? Mmmmm-kay....

Sonny was ready for his!

'Sparky, Sonny really likes his food! You should try yours!' Oh, again with the rubbing?!

'Sparky, dog really, really wants your tuna. Look at her salivate...'

Hmmm, sticking with the rubbing I see?!

I finally had push the dog off the porch & shut the gate so she didn't leap into the container of tuna.

Then I shoved Sparky's head in the container so he would eat...

Sonny LOVES the tuna fish! He licked his container clean! (Uhm yes, they have ruined my wicker table by using it as a claw sharpener. Hmph, kids...)

Sparky's a mover & a shaker. He doesn't like to sit still! He eats a bit & then walks away. Then eats a bit more & goes to rub himself on that damn chair. I walked away for ONE second & Sonny had jumped down during one of Sparky's lapses & started eating his food!

Poor dog is still locked out. Sorry, dog...

Ok-Sparky's chosen to eat again for a minute...

This time Sonny just shoved him outta the way. Look at Sparky's head going back! It was like the movie Jaws! I had chum in the water & the sharks went crazy!

I finally waited long enough & Sparky ate the whole container. It only took for-ever! While I was on the porch, I could hear Brian planting beans across the road. I couldn't see him, only hear him. Well, dog heard too. And all of a sudden she took off barking. At Brian. Is she destined to be my dog or what? Barking at my arch-nemisis without even knowing it was him. She has a sixth sense I tell ya. Perhaps I should name her soon? Sigh...