"Show-Me State" Weekend

Two weekends ago Beau and I went to Branson and Springfield for shopping purposes/people watching.   Really the latter just happens while one's there but it's worth noting.

Mamie spent the weekend with Me-Mel and Mamps (the names given to my parents by my nephew.)  I thought it important to take a picture of the note I sent in Mamie's over night bag.  Like your dog doesn't have the "Going to Grandma's" mini-suitcase?

Could that be an arrow there at the bottom of the page encouraging the reader to turn the paper around  for more instructions??? 

Why yes it is!!

I'm sure it's amusing/insulting to my parents that they managed to raise three children to adulthood only to get a front and back page note instructing them on the do's and don'ts of keeping a mutt for less than 48 hours.

While on the subject of Mamie at my parents: she managed to keep them up the whole first night with squeaky toys (she doesn't get to play with those at home since she eats them, can't void them and ends up in the puppy E.R. with a bruised ego and a $250 bill), treed two raccoons, distracted Dad's soccer team at their practice and became the cat's number one enemy. 

Don't worry though, they got a bottle of peach BBQ sauce for their troubles.

Beau and I had a great time.  Our first stop was "Man Mecca", otherwise known as Bass Pro in Springfield.  If you have never been, I really cannot explain how massive the place is.  Normally I would not be too thrilled on spending half a day at an outdoor store but seeing that they have lots of aquatic critters throughout the store, I was happily entertained.

Here's a little trivia for you:  Bass Pro in Springfield is Missouri's number one tourist attraction.  If you ever win a large sum of money because you answer that question properly on a game show, be sure to share the wealth with the one who shared that fact with you.

FYI: This guy is the real deal.

My favorite, the turtle pond.

What's that, boys and girls?  A life fish feeding at Sea World?  Nope, still at Bass Pro.

This is one of the many nature displays.

It's a good thing we were cheesy and took a picture of ourselves in front of Bass Pro because we never took another one the whole time.  It's amazing how less vain you become after almost four years of marriage.

We did, however, capture the downpour that occurred while we were shopping. 

It just so happened that we were at Gap, which is secluded from all the other shops at the outlet mall.  Our umbrella was in the car, which was across the parking lot.  Therefore, we got to sit on a bench, like the old men at the mall, until the rain let off.

That night at dinner I was able to give our waiter a little geography lesson.  He asked us where we were from and after I told him Arkansas he said, "I knew it!  I could tell from your (he was referring to my) accent." 
I was all, "Sir, you do realize we are right next to you on the map, right?" 

Aaaaaaaand that wraps up our little weekend in the "Show-Me State".

A Moment of Awkwardness Brought to you by the Hubs and Me

Yesterday we discovered that the neighbor we have called "Tony" for the eight months we have known him is really named Keith.  Dang.

Poor Kid was Marked Before the First Round of Hokey Pokey

Today was my nephew Carson's first day of preschool.  

And what was the very first thing he asked his teacher on his very first day of preschool?

"Are those your pajama pants?"

Happy Birthday to 60% of my Immediate Family and Such

Both my mom, dad and brother, Jared celebrated their birthday's this week (I know, right?).  To add to the list (but not to the percentage), my father-in-law's is this Sunday.

My family celebrated with lunch in Hot Springs last Sunday and had a great time.  I have such wonderful parents and a great little brother.  I wish I would have gotten the waiter to take a photo but didn't think about it.

I somehow never manage to forget taking photos of the dog.

This was Saturday and the diva needed to stretch out under the ceiling fan after our morning walk.  Trust me, that is the only reason she is resting on the floor instead of the couch.  Note how she knocked my decorative pillow to the floor for comfort.

I have been watching a lot of Paula Deen lately and the other day she cooked famous New Orleans dishes.  Of course the dessert was beignets.  I love, love, love NOLA and equally love beignets so I followed her recipe.

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups lukewarm water
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1 envelope active dry yeast
• 2 eggs, slightly beaten
• 1 1/4 teaspoons salt
• 1 cup evaporated milk
• 7 cups bread flour
• 1/4 cup shortening
• Nonstick spray
• Oil, for deep-frying
• 3 cups confectioners' sugar

Directions

Mix water, sugar, and yeast in a large bowl and let sit for 10 minutes.

In another bowl, beat the eggs, salt and evaporated milk together. Mix egg mixture to the yeast mixture. In a separate bowl, measure out the bread flour. Add 3 cups of the flour to the yeast mixture and stir to combine. Add the shortening and continue to stir while adding the remaining flour. Remove dough from the bowl, place onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth. Spray a large bowl with nonstick spray. Put dough into the bowl and cover with plastic wrap or a towel. Let rise in a warm place for at least 2 hours.

Preheat oil in a deep-fryer to 350 degrees F.

Roll the dough out to about 1/4-inch thickness and cut into 1-inch squares. Deep-fry, flipping constantly, until they become a golden color. After beignets are fried, drain them for a few seconds on paper towels, and then sprinkle with confectioners' sugar.

Don't they look yummy?  The recipe made a lot of dough so I have several feezer bags of mix to make in the future.

Sunday afternoon Beau, Mamie and I visited his hunting lease so he could map it out with his hand-held GPS.  He is not a cushy hunter who rides a 4-wheeler to a permanent stand next to a deer feeder.  He treks out miles into the woods with a bow, binoculars and a climbing tree stand.  He truly makes a sport out of it.

On one of the roads, we happened upon this 2 star resort of a  deer stand.

Pretty sure that is an old camper shell serving as the roof.  I'm almost positive  I once heard a girl on 16 and Pregnant say she conceived in a deer stand and remembered thinking , "You did what where?!"  Well now, I understand how that can happen in a stand of such quality.   If only there was a font for sarcasm.

We finally got rain and cooler temps this week.  I took this picture the other morning driving to work because the clouds were insane.  I sure hope our insurance agent doesn't read this blog.



We recently had dinner with our friends Cody and Tiffany at the Flying Fish in Little Rock.

I thought I would throw these in this blog post  mix because Beau and I never take pictures together. 

By the way, Tiffany is above the age of 14; regardless of how she looks in this picture.

And now all of you except Mom are thinking, "How did she go from beignets to a red neck camper shell covered deer stand?"  What's Mom thinking?  "I should have put her on ADD medication when she was in my primary care."

Adventures with Aunt Kendall

 Two weekends ago, Carson spent Friday night with us.  We haven't had him over since we got Mamie because he is pretty scared of dogs.  His little brother, Hudson, has never met a dog he hasn't hugged all over.  Different strokes for different folks, I guess, but not loving dogs is something I cannot understand.  

He was skittish of Mamie for a while but warmed up to her.  Mamie, on the other hand, was all up in his business the second he walked in the door.  She, sensing Carson was not crazy about her, decided she was going to teach him a lesson for not loving all over her within the first five minutes of his arrival.  While lying on the floor she slicked her ears back, noting to me that she was about to do something bad, barked twice (I was already jumping up to throw by body in front of Carson when the ears went down) and charged the kid.  Because she can run like a cheetah when she feels like it, she beat me to Carson, jumped on him, licked his face and ran like the wind to get away from any repercussions coming her way for her poor judgement.

 After his initial terror subsided, he tolerated her.  She, knowing she was on thin ice, kept her distance but watched him like a hawk waiting for the moment he would warm up to her.

 By bath time, they were tight.

Earlier, Beau, Carson and I went to dinner and then to Target for a toy.  As we were walking up the parking lot to the store we saw several people running out screaming.  We both froze not sure what was happening.  All of a sudden, a giant rat came running out of the exit, terrified a young family by darting in between them and headed for the hills (or some bushes).  Beau and I just looked at eachother with crazy looks and were all, "Did that just happen?"  Within a few minutes we had taught Carson a phrase that did not subside all night, "I smell a RAT!!!"

The next morning Beau had to go to work but fear not, Aunt Kendall had big plans - Mid America Museum, a very hands on museum in Hot Springs/the field trip of choice for any teacher I had in elementary school. 

As I was getting ready in my bathroom I heard a huge crash quickly followed by, "I DIDN'T MEAN TO!  I DID NOT MEAN TO!!!!!!!!!"

I ran to the living room to find Carson with a pile of dirt on his head.  I then turned my head to find this:

Apparently one of his toys had rolled under the planter and when he went to get it, he bumped the planter with his head.  The plant dumped on him but luckily, did not land on him-just on the floor.

He was so upset and kept telling me he would buy another plant, "If (Sob) that's (Sob) alright, Aunt Kendall (SOB!!!!)"  Of course I felt horrible for him and could not be the least bit mad.

Upon our arrival to the museum, Carson was surprised to see Mamps and Me-Mel (what he calls my parents) waiting for him.  Mom, Dad and I had planned on them being there but didn't tell Carson.

Of course we had a great time but Carson had a blast!

 

 The above picture is one of the museum's exhibits; a cave simulation.  You go (mostly crawl) through a series of tunnels, slides and rope or wooden bridges.  Because it is almost pitch black in some of the areas, Carson was pretty scared and decided he wanted to turn around.  Aunt Kendall would not hear of it and informed him he was going all the way through (partially because I didn't want him to regret not going all the way through when we left and partially because I was curious to see what was ahead.)  So he forged on.  Dad (leading the way in the above picture) took an early departure in one of the exits scattered throughout deciding his bad knee may not make it.

 The wooden bridge.

 As soon as we finished he jumped up and said, "AGAIN!!"  And so we caved, again.  All in all, we went through six times.  After that, I decided I could not survive another trek and that Carson had been through enough to go alone so he went a few more times.  Throughout the exhibit we would run into kids who were crying or scared and Carson would cheer them on.  "You don't have to be scared," he would say.  "It is sooo much fun!"  It was very sweet.

 They also house an exhibit where kids dig to find dinosaur bones.  That was a big hit too.

 We took this picture as we were leaving.  I like to call it "Me-Mel and Company"

You know it was a good time when you see a kid passed out in the backseat. 

The Phrase "Hot as Hell" Seems Appropriate

I want to crawl in a cave and not come out until October.  What's worse, I'm not a pretty sweat-er.  Some girls glisten and still look amazing.  Not this girl.  I just look a hot mess.

This is what I like to call "Separate Bedrooms Weather" because I cannot stand to feel the heat coming from another person in bed (and Beau, being a typical male, puts off a lot of heat.) 

I can tell you that the first thought that comes to my mother's head upon reading that sentence is, "Great, I'm not getting a grandchild from those two anytime soon."

It's even more irritating that the dog thinks our only purpose at night is to act as her human pillows. 

Speaking of "purpose", if you were looking for one of those in this post, I'm sorry I could not even offer so much as a recipe.  All I am doing is complaining because extreme heat makes me cranky.  But come to think of it, this whole blog is pretty purposeless.

I Think We'll Keep Her

July 31 marked the one year anniversary of Mamie's adoption.  I think it is obvious from the amount of pictures and stories about her here on the blog that we are in love.  I've posted a few (alright, a lot) of pictures of our baby through the year. 

 DAY ONE

 NOT DAY ONE

 She is clearly comfortable in our home

She is not modest as the above picture clearly proves.  I am constantly telling her that it's not lady-like to show one's "puppy bits".

She:

• is ill-behaved
• snores
• talks back
• expects crushed ice in her water bowl after a walk
• is solely responsible for sending the vet's middle child through his first year of college
• is nosy
• uses Beau and I as pillows at night while taking up half the king size bed
• is a total snob who growls at the poor animals on the Sarah McLachlan shelter commercials
• poops in our neighbor's yard when I am talking to that neighbor
• knocks off the decorative pillows on our bed right after it is made
• barks at me when I'm on the phone and not paying her enough attention
• thinks her personal mission in life is to attack the vacuum cleaner

And we wouldn't change one thing about her.  So glad she is our mutt.