I'm Back...

...but with a terrible chest cold. Hopefully I will feel up to posting photos of vaca tomorrow.

Leaving Branson

We're up early, had our coffee & breakfast, and just finished packing up to head to Dumas. Today is Dad's 80th birthday and we are having a celebration for him at his home.

Last night we went to the steakhouse in the hotel parking lot but I had catfish. Yesterday was the perfect culinary day = biscuits & gravy for breakfast, BBQ for lunch, and catfish for dinner, LOL. After dinner we went to the Ripley's Believe It Or Not museum and brosed around for about an hour. It was interesting and low impact.

We are leaving shortly and planning a stop in Little Rock for lunch (Whole Hog Cafe) and to purchase a couple of potted mums for the house. Jerry no longer wonders how/why I got this seasonal decorating bug as everywhere you look people have scarecrows, bales of straw, pumpkins, and potted mums adorning their entries ways or driveways. I love fall in this area of the country because the weather is perfect, the treees change, and everyone decorates!

I probaboly won't blog for a few days because my Dad does not have internet. Heck, my cell phone doesn't work in Dumas either. We are heading to Murfreesboro tomorrow and I really doubt I will have internet or cell phone their either.

Living It Up In Branson

Shoji Tabuchi

Sunday was a great day. I just LOVE my cousins! Us cousins, my Dad, and hubby started with breakfast at the hotel again. There's been no need to go out because they have a big breakfast buffet included. I've had biscuits and gravy and Jerr's had Belgium waffles everyday. Then we went shopping at the other side of the outlet mall where the designer handbag stores are located. Let's such say we got FABULOUS deals and the Coach store didn't do too bad either, LOL. Next it was to the nail salon for mani/pedis. Then off to buy tickets to a show and then dinner.

We went to a Teppanyaki restaurant for dinner and it was a blast. My cousins had always wanted to try this type of restaurant and Jerry & I love it so it was an excellent choice. Even Dad was happy and he's a picky eater. Cousin Linda was at the center seat and was wearing a top with a low decollatage so the chef focused on her big time. We all laughed and she in particular had a great time which she deserves. Then we went to the Shoji Tabuchi show. Very good performance. He is a classically trained violenist and while in college in Osaka Japan went to a Roy Acuff and the Smokey Mountain Boys concert. That was it - he wanted to become an America Country music fiddler. You can Google to learn more about him but I'll just had to say he is very talented.

We ended the night with cocktails in the jacuzzi again. It was an evening of family, good food, exceptionaly entertainment, laughter, and commorodorie. It was a fabulous day. Sadly, the cousins had to leave early this morning. They have a 9 hour drive back to Chicago and they both have to work tomorrow. We all hated to see them leave; however, there was talk of a cousin reunion in the future in New York centered around Broadway plays and shopping :)

Funny note - For the first time since before I was born my Manning family did not have an annual family reunion but my cousins have been having brief get togethers with 3 or 4 family members. They said they are having the family reunion one family member at a time. LOL.


Today I went to this huge quilt and fabric shop that I remembered from a previous trip to Branson, It is so overstimulating and overwhelming that the only thing I purchased was a gift for my mom who is house and dog sitting. Then the three of us went to Veterans Memorial Museum with wonderful collections from WWI, WWII, Korea, Viet Nam, & Desert Storm. Dad's a Korea vet and Jerr VietNam. They had names on the walls of all the service people killed during each conflict. The WWII part was very moving with over 400,000 names and this HUGE bronze sculture of 50 servicemen (lifesize). Each was labeled with his name and the state that he was from (one from each state) and the face was his likeness. None of us had ever seen anythig like it, In addition, this is a private museum and receives no federal funding.

Don't Forget To Vote!

Ratbone is getting close to a $1,000 grant so PLEASE vote for Ratbone. It costs you nothing. Here's the link: http://www.theanimalrescuesite.com/clickToGive/shelterchallenge.faces?siteId=3 Just type in Ratbone Rescues and choose Florida as the state and after you "search" Ratbone should populate in the area below where you typed and you select it. It will take you to a page to weed out computer programs and you'll need to identify the aniaml in the photo and click on the button to actually place your vote. No charge, no registraiton no fuss!

Branson Continued

We had a full afternoon and evening here in Branson. Us cousins went shopping at the outlet mall and Dad and Jerr went to the new Bass Pro Shop here in Branson. Then we all went to diner at my Dad's favorite restaurant, Golden Corral, then we all had a nice chat session (and Diane gave me a foot massage on my swollen foot - she is a massage therapist) before finding cocktails and spending time in the Jacuzzi. The evening ended with us watching the opening to Saturday night hoping to see another Palin skit with Tina Faye.

Today we are going to return to the shopping center and Dad & Jerr are going to the BIG Bass Pro Shop in Springfield. We are going to a tepenyaki dinner around 5 so that we can catch a 7:30 show tonight. Sorry, no way to download my photos.

We Made It!

We just checked into our hotel in Branson, Missoui. Much nicer than the accomodations in Little Rock. It was a fabulous drive - the weather was perfect and the Ozard Mountains were beautiful. We made one detour to see a natural stone bridge that was very interesting. I forgot my cord to download photos from my camera so you'll have to wait :(

Cousins Linda and Diane from Illinois beat us here and were helpful in being our GPS to navigate the local roads to the hotel. I'm anxious for us all to umpact, get settled in, and plan the next couple of days!

More to come..........................

On Our Way To Branson Today

We survived our night in a cheap hotel although Jerry is worse for the ware. The hotel sits about 50 feet from a major road and close to interstate so it was noisy. It also had one of those noisy aircondition units that seems to be either on all the time (and cold) or off all the time (hot).

I got up early, still on FL time, and brought back coffee & juice from the free continental breakfast. Dad wants to go to his favorite restaurant The Golden Corral for breakfast and that's probably a good idea - we can all get what we want and it's fast. Then we hit the road for Branson! Hopefully we will have wireless in the hotel because I forgot to bring an ethernet cable. TTYL!

Little Rock, Arkansas

We just had a FABULOUS dinner at the Whole Hog Cafe in Little Rock. Truly the best BBQ I've ever had but let me tell you about the flight today....

We were getting ready to leave Tampa for Memphis when they let two people on really late. Since they were seated in front of me I could tell by the sound, demeanor, and scent that they had been drinking heavily. They were cussing and making a fuss when they set down - apparently they were in the bar and they didn't hear when the airline was paging them.

They were only on the plane a couple minutes before anyone in ear shot knew a) they were brother and sister, 2) they were going to Paragould Arkansas, and c) their mother had suffered a heart attack. Loud, obnoxious people. And what does the flight attendant do? Sells them more alcohol. Ugh. The good news is that they only sold them one drink.

Now it gets interesting. Something happened between the two and they started to argue, cuss at each other, and shout. Then she started to hit him. It got really out of hand. Passengers were ringing the flight attendants bells but when they came the couple was somehwat better so they did nothing. When they started up again passengers started offering to have one of them trade seats. Eventually a passengers told the flight attendant to tell them they had to trade with him and it worked.

Once they were seperated things improved; however, the passenger who traded to sit by her turned around and bought her two more drinks! I don't understand that at all. My "row mate" thought perhaps he was trying to get her to pass out. I was concerned she would puke. When we touched ground, but still had to taxi to the gate, she tried to light up a cigarette. The guy who traded had to stop her a couple times. When it was time to go she somehow ended out in front of me and was hollaring that some f****** stole her luggage and she was trying to go toward the back of the plane against the flow of traffic. What a nightmare. I was disappointed at the lack of concern by the Northwest crew. If me and all the passengers around me immediatley recognized these folks were drunk, why in the world did they sell them more liquor?

Ratbone Has A Blog!

Click here to access Ratbone's new blog! We are just getting started so be sure to choose the "follow" feature to watch it grow. Of course you can always visit Ratbone's web page - it is very extensive and explains all aspects of rat terrier rescue.

One More Dog Vest

I finished the last vest tonight for an online friend's fund raiser. Since her event will be about a week before Halloween, she chose a Halloween fabric. Initially I was just going to use the orange belt web for the D ring but it looked so orange! So I sewed a gingham ribbon down the center to break up that orange. It might have been OK orange but anyone who knows me well knows that I have an aversion to the color orange. Sorry for the lousy photography - it's just me! LOL

Green Thumb Sunday - Orchid Show

A Vote For Ratbone

Eddie the Rat Terrier that I adopted from Ratbone Rescues 4 years ago - and what an wondeful 4 years they have been!

Petfinder.com and The Animal Rescue Site have put together a contest where animal shelters can win grants totaling $100,000.00! The grants are awarded based on votes received for a particular shelter. PLEASE help me to help Ratbone receive some of that money to be used toward rescue, vet costs, shots, worming, heartworm preventative, spay/neuter, rehabilitaiton, rehoming, etc. for the dogs that Ratbone takes in. IT COSTS YOU NOTHING except a couple minutes of your time AND you can vote once a day until December 4th!. Here's how it works:

Go to: http://www.theanimalrescuesite.com/clickToGive/shelterchallenge.faces?siteId=3

You will find a purple box on the page that asks for Shelter Name (type in RATBONE RESCUES), Country (will default to USA), State (Select FL or FLORIDA from drop down menu), and you don't have to add the City (but if you want to you could enter JACKSONVILLE), then hit the SEARCH button.

Ratbone and its information will then populate in the area just below where you entered your info and you will have an option to submit your vote; however, it will direct you to one more page where you are asked to identify the animal in the photo - this is to be sure it is humans voting and not a computer program. They want simple answers like lion or fish not striped bass or toy fox terrier. This is where you will also find the actual VOTE button. Be sure to hit the button or your vote won't count.

There is no registration, nothing to sign up for, no nothing. PLEASE take a moment of your time to vote even if you have your own shelter to vote for. If you aren't involved with a shelter or rescue group, please consider Ratbone. In these hard economic times it is getting more difficult to do the work we do and volunteers are having to choose between rescue and their own personal expenses. You could help save the lives of many a Rat Terrier by simply voting once a day. Licks and Kisses to all who help!

Made It Myself Monday & Way Back Wednesday

My computer has a problem....I'm using my Dad's. I've been hesitating to install the software for my digital camera on his computer so that I could share photos on the blog. Tonight I just plugged in the USB and it had it's own program for extracting photos and it was much easier to use than the program that came with the camera so I am back to blogging!

Let's start with Way Back Wednesday - OK, it wasn't that way back as these are only photos from last weekend, LOL. But, since they are of a birthday dinner, I think we can classsify them as Way Back.

Above is photo of my hubby and mother-in-law at her 87th birthday dinner. Below is MIL eating birthday cake. I am such a bad photographer I forgot to take a photo of the lovely cake until AFTER it was cut. It was a marble cake with chocolate moose in it. (I'm such an Alaskan that is the only way I know how to spell moose!)

And for Made It Myself (Last) Monday:

Actually I finished this purse tonight but I have been working on it since Monday. I already mailed the items I finished on Monday. I made two reversible dog coats from this Alabama fabric for an online friend. They are team fabric on one side and corduroy on the other. I also made her two of the harness vest I've shown before but from the Bama fabric. I forgot to take photos, ugh.

I'm trying to come up with ideas to use up the leftovers. Not huge pieces left so it has been a challange. I made this sweet little purse - the first purse I have made since high school. Don't ya just love the handles? I made them from cotton duck, a very thick stabalizer, and ribbon with a floral motif. The handles are my favorite part!

Here's a close up of the ribbon. Just love that very small check. I actually bought three spools and used two on this project. Since I had a big print (the team logo) and a medium print in the starfish (?), thought the ribbon should be the smallest print of the three spools so add variety to the scale of fabrics.

For the inside of the purse I used some fabric a Kodiak friend brough back from Bali. I made pockets of the starfish-ish fabric and trimmed with the ribbon - again three sizes of print. The pattern wasn't particuarily difficult but because I used such a stiff stabalizer, which I found out was only supposed to be used for the BOTTOM of the purse, it made some of the work VERY difficult and I broke two sewing machine needles in the process. I went back and forth on a closure for the purse but I didn't like any I tried so I am not adding one.