Oktoberfest

Oktoberfest is a humungous event in Munich, Germany to celebrate pumpkins and beer.  The original festival was actually a public celebration of Crown Prince Ludwig's marriage in 1810 to Princess Therese of Hildburghausen and was centered around, not pumpkins and beer, but a horse race.  These days, over 5 million people attend Oktober Fest the world's largest fair.

That's a whole lotta beer and lederhosen.

Like June, Oktober is full of birthday celebrations.

Katie, Deb and Mike's oldest is 24 now and has three kids of her own.  Twenty four?Mother of three kids - really five 'cause you have to count Caleb and Justin.  Impossible.  It was just the other day that she was tottering around our house.  Now she has kids of her own that are tottering around.  Impossible.

Our friend, Tom has a birthday on the tenth.  I am not sure just how old Tom is.  He's older than me, but younger than Randy.  That would make Tom somewhere in the mid-40's.  Seriously impossible.  But I don't want to embarrass myself by attempting to figure out his age and be wrong.

This is Tom trying to teach me how to smoke a cigar.  There is not enough wine - either boxed or bottled - in this world for me to try that stunt again.  About the monkeys - don't ask, don't tell.

My girlfriend, Nina's son turned twenty on the 24th.  Again, impossible.  It was yesterday when I got the call from Ed to let me know Eddie was born.  It was in the morning, I was standing in the kitchen of the Milton house.  Yesterday, I tell you.  Twenty years and six houses ago.

Will is twelve now.  Next year, he will be a 'teen'.  Next year!  Will got Call of Duty for his birthday.  That should simply not be allowed - he should still be watching Veggie Tale movies.

Sammy turned ten.  Ten!  She is now grown up enough to get her ears pierced.  Prom dresses and high heels are just around the corner.

How can my beloved grandkids be growing up so fast?   That's it!  I refuse to blink anymore.  When I blink, time goes at warp speed.

Debbie is twenty nine today.  My big sister is now somehow younger than me.  I don't even know how that phenomenon even happened.

Happy Birthday to the BEST Sister in the World!

I love you!

Have the BEST day ever!
~ Dorothy

Dinner At Our House

The other night, I decided to make chicken pot pie for dinner.  The good kind, from my well used Betty Crocker cookbook.  The good kind, the kind my mom used to make.  With celery seed crust, although I didn't use celery seeds, I used poppy seeds.

The Many Choices of Titles

White Women Don't Bounce

No, That Wasn't an Earthquake

Ouch

Roxy loves for me to chase her.

I have no athletic prowess.

Our driveway is gravel.
And slightly sloped.

Flip Flops. 

All these add up to potential injury for me.

The Three Sides

I recently had the opportunity to reconnect with some long lost friends and family.  Friends and family that Randy and I left behind in Washington State long before we moved to Texas.

I put a lot of thought and prayer into whether or not I wanted to, needed to or should do this.  It’s scary to open yourself back up to the old aches and pains of a lost relationship.

Don't Forget To Look Up

I have not used an alarm clock in many, many years.  Since Randy started working from home, I think.  I was never one for sleeping in and never having a problem waking up when I needed to.

Now and then I have even slept until - yeee gosh - 7 am.

Then we got Roxy.

Roxy the Alarm Clock goes off faithfully every morning right around 6am.

One little squeak

Another bigger squeak.

Then two little squeaks put together.

I usually wake up at the first squeak and hope I was just dreaming.

At the second squeak I know that morning has broken.  I break out in song ‘cause if I’m getting up, the whole house is getting up.

Kidding.  I try not to wake the bear.  He is not a morning bear.

Roxy's Celebration

Roxy went to the vet on Monday morning to have the stitches taken out from having her dewclaws removed.  For some unknown reason, she was a bit hesitant to get into the truck.

For the better part of two weeks it has been a constant fight to get her to leave the bandages alone.  I spent one day early on in this ordeal going around Mountain Home looking for Bitter  Apple spray, thinking that would stop the licking and the chewing.  We really didn't want to have to use that horrible cone.  I couldn't find Bitter Apple, but ended up getting Bitter Cherry.

Didn't phase her.

In Three Hours

In three hours I could watch two movies and have time for a popcorn and bathroom break.

In three hours I could be about one third of the way back to Plano to see Will and Sammy.

In three hours I can order seven window blinds from Lowe’s.  

That is twenty five minutes per blind.  And two of the blinds were the same size.

Quite By Accident

I am very positive that I have mentioned many times that I am married to the most wonderful man in the world.

He is smart

He is funny

  But not as funny as me.  As I?

He is handsome

He can figure anything out

  Including me

He doesn’t get mad when I leave the gardening tools out - despite every effort I make to put them away, there is always one that remains.

It’s a conspiracy.

He bravely and politely endures me when cooking creativity born from necessity comes over me.

Be Penny-like Today

Penny is a friend of mine that I have had for far too many years to count.  Okay, about 43 years.    When I was in 2nd grade, she was my Sunday school teacher and taught me Sunday school and Vacation Bible School until 6th grade ended.  6th grade was, at the time, the last of Sunday school at our church.

King of Kings Lutheran Church, Missouri Synod, Renton Washington

Penny was and is a wonderful model for living a Christian life.

Yellville Turkey Trot Festival

Our big adventure over the weekend was attending the 65th annual Yellville Turkey Trot Festival.  Yellville is about twenty miles to the northeast of Mountain Home.  It took us over an hour and a half to get there on Saturday.  And not because of the traffic from people trying to get to Yellville to enter in the Miss Drumstick competition.  

Crisis Averted

The October weather has been beyond beautiful here.  It has been cooling down in the evening, but still sunny and mid-80’s during the day.  Since an Indian Summer is nice, warm weather after the first frost, what we are having here is summer blurring the lines into fall.  I know that this weather won’t last, so I almost hate to waste it being inside.  Randy laughs and shakes his head at me trundling outside with my bag full of electronics and lip gloss.

The lack of Texas wind blowing dust all over has allowed Randy to spend more time cooking outdoors.   Randy loves to barbecue and use his smoker.  He is his own worst critic, but in my opinion, he cooks divinely.  And the best part?  He is way more organized than I am in the kitchen and he cleans up as he cooks.

Roxy, the Poor Dog

The past couple of days have been not good ones for Roxy.  Early Monday morning, I dropped her off with the kind people at the Animal Health Center in Mountain Home.  Doctor Jim and Roxy had an very early morning date for an Ovariohysterctomy.  

In normal people language, to be spayed.

Mountain Home Berry Farm

Last weekend, Randy and I visited the Mountain Home Berry Farm that is in - wait for it -  Mountain Home.  (Arkansas, not Idaho.)