Notes From MO

Not a lot of time to update you here - I'm borrowing the wireless for a few minutes on my dad's laptop.

We've (the kiddos, the dog and me - just in case you're thinking now would be a good time to stop by and steal all our junque...) been on vacation for the last two weeks!

We're kickin' our heels up at the old "homestead" in the Ozarks of MO. My grandparents have had this place on the lake since the very early 60's and it's probably the first place I ever swam. (And now that I think about it, it's the last place I swam too...)

I've set up housekeeping in one of my twin aunt's single wide trailer. That in and of itself was quite a feat... Apparently, whomever stayed here last wasn't much for housekeeping. The place reeked of mold and mildew, accented with just a hint of dried dog doo and a nostril slamming dose of dust. Of course, there were the signs of life left behind by winter's rodent guests as well as the fresh carcases of the ants that have been camping out here for who knows how long. I'm just thankful that my other aunt (the one that's down here most every weekend keeping an eye on things from her place next door) had the place fumigated a couple of days before we arrived to bed down.

It took a couple of days of cleaning, but we finally got the place livable again - can't complain tho, when the rent is so low :0) I do believe I heard my owner aunt say something about "changing the locks". Seems that my cousin's wife didn't want to stay here any more since the place didn't smell right to her... I need to stop here.

Last week we spent three nights in a condo in Branson. We is now the twin aunts, my three kids, and my cousin's two kids (both within months of being the same age as Mack - they split wedding duties at my other cousin's wedding last fall...) We had a ball eating and playing our way through Silver Dollar City in the on and off rain.

We'll be heading back to SDC for a few days when Daddy joins us - but I can't tell you when that will be, cuz I don't want you to go rob our junque out from under us...

There's a whole bunch more to tell - like how Zack totally soaked his cast at "Splash Harbor" (who knew... thanks *great* aunt, for the permission while mom was away...) and how it was replaced with a brace that he'll wear until the 29th. How the fireworks were pretty lame - not the usual lake viewing pleasure. How the kids are riding their bikes all the time and just loving it. How the dog has found a way out of the fenced yard and runs away down to gramma's house on the corner at every opportunity. How a trip to Walmart is a major excursion since it's a 30 minute drive instead of 3 minutes from home. How I'm learning how to plan better menus and grocery lists... How we're doing "summer-home school" and just "loving" it (not all of us - but it is motivating to have the lake just a short walk away when we're done... How the two youngest have turned into fish and the oldest is quite the angler now. (All he's asked for for his 11th b-day in 12 hours is fishing tackle and a trip to Bass Pro...) How I somehow seem to be gaining weight - could it possibly be all these huge family meals??? How I've started exercising again and I'm being faithful to my T-Tapp boot camp. How my cell phone totally crashed and erased everything on it - contacts, pix, ring tones, scheduler - everything! And how annoyed I was with Sprint (oddly #3 for WORST customer service...) when I called to see how to get my ringtones back and the guy said "how many" and I said "8 or 10" and he said, "that's too many - we can credit you with 3" and I said, "but I just bought them 6 months ago" and he said, "they re-download them and call back when they show up on your bill next month and tell them to look up my notes for this date and next time take care of your phone!!" and I said "EXCUSE ME???? It was never MY plan for the phone to short out and erase all my stuff... I was told it was a manufacturing defect!" (I hate Sprint...)

But... there's not time to tell you all that stuff - and this puter is pretty annoying - it keeps jumping my cursor all over the place and screwing up my typing.

Just wanted to say "hi" and that I'm still here... and miss bloggin' at ya... and I promise pix when I can get back to my own puter... but it will be awhile...