what i did on my summer vacation

Posted on August 9, 2018 by Tara Jo

so last week i went on vacation, a trip to missouri and to kentucky then back to missouri

i will now regale you with stories and pictures from said vacation.  

i flew to saint louis and got in my rental car, all very uneventful other than the fact that my suitcase was the first on the baggage claim thing and then the rental car shuttle was pulling up to the curb as i got there. so that was cool

i got in the car and hooked my phone up to the fancy ass bluetooth thing and got my gps directions map up and running and headed out.  about 2 hrs later i stopped at public house brewing in st james, missouri, drank a few tasters and loaded up on their fruit ciders, a peach ale and of course revelation stout.  

Hard Cider

Peach Ale

after that i headed to my cousin  angie’s to be amazed by how well she is doing on her weight loss journey.

and then on to colton’s to meet my friend jamie that i initially met in one of my facebook groups, she was on a road trip of her own and we managed to coordinate  meeting in the great metropolis of rolla, mo.

we had a great dinner and i caught up a little bit, each meeting with her (this is our second in real life) is like hanging with someone i have always known and there is no awkwardness we just keep on talking like it hasn’t been 2 years since we had dinner together the last time

after that i headed on to that ‘blink and you will miss it’ town of my early childhood, and got to my mom’s just about bed time.

we got up bright and early for our road trip to kentucky.  it was time to meet the newest great nephew and his mom, and see my nephew.  

we left the house around 5:30 am and headed out.  my mom, awesome person that she is, knew of a dunkin donuts on the way so we stopped there to fuel up on sweet coffee and donuts.

as we drove, we laughed, told stories, ate junk food

DQs 5$ meal box is delightful

and just had a fabulous time, we also stopped at a few tourist attractions 

Boomland was a favorite i think

do you need a pink camo high heeled chair? if so they have them at boomland!

We got to our destination that afternoon and i got to meet my new niece (by marriage) and she was just as awesome as i expected her to be, and of course my new great nephew who will learn that i am the fun aunt and have no real rules.  

Nathaniel napping on Aunt Tiggy

Great Grama and Nathaniel

my nephew came in from work a little later and we had a wonderful time catching up.

as always there is never enough time and on Saturday morning after letting the new parents sleep in a bit and getting a picture of the new family with grama/great grama we headed back out to Missouri, this time my 13 yr old nephew joined us to go back home as he had been staying with his big brother for a few weeks.

Road trip fun!

There is nothing like being with family and definitely nothing like being with them at the river.

  • snack time!
  • learning to throw rocks. *not aunt tiggy’s best idea
  • tadpole!
  • what a morning
  • dad likes to chase people with crawdads…
  • tiny fish that try to eat my little sister

After a few days at the river, there was rain and lots of it in the forecast so we loaded up and headed to mom and dad’s house. 

They promptly put me and baby buttercup to work shucking corn.  i am not a fan of those little worms that live in corn, so at one point i pulled the husk down and screamed and hit the corn against the side of the bucket and jax decided that was how it was done, so he started screaming and hitting the corn every time,  it was quite entertaining.

Later that day i headed over to visit my aunt but she wasn’t home, so i just spent a little time at the pond, enjoying the rain drops on the lily pads (she came to mom’s to see me later in the day)

and then more family!! my nephew and his kids came to visit

I love my babies!!

It is impossible to capture everyone and everything, but i hope you enjoyed this little glimpse of my vacation!

Posted in 2018, family, laugh until you can't breathe, memories | Comments Off on what i did on my summer vacation

february is such a fucking roller coaster

Posted on February 22, 2018 by Tara Jo

i hate february. i love february. i hate february.

 

Posted in family, memories | Comments Off on february is such a fucking roller coaster

i definitely forgot…

Posted on January 18, 2018 by Tara Jo

how to knit.

i’ve never been a pro or even much past beginner, but i ran into a friend from my knitting group last weekend and promised to get back to the weekly gatherings. the next meeting would have been tonight but the hostess has been under the weather. i was just planning to go hang out as any project i might have going on needles was started so long ago who knows what the pattern even was. so this evening in lieu of the meeting i decided to start a new very very simple garter stitch dishcloth. yea… simple. so i turned to my trusty friend, youtube tutorials. found a wonderful lady who does a slow, repetitive cast on and knit stitch video and refreshed my memory. so short story long. i’ve now got a project going and maybe I can actually finish it. i have one of my fancy new better habits set up to knit a bit every evening after the other habits are done.

p.s. still rocking the better habits plan and mostly rocking the eating better plan. day 18, bitches.

Posted in 2018, crafting, knitting, twenty18, twentyeighteen | Tagged , , | Comments Off on i definitely forgot…

Day um…. 17

Posted on January 17, 2018 by Tara Jo

So here we are more than 2 weeks into the month and other than a few days this week when a fibro flare had me down for the count, my better habits plan is on track. My better eating plan dropped a few more notches than the habits as weekends and the desire to shop and cook don’t mix for me 🙂 bit we did hit the grocery store this evening and grab some things to fix for dinners to avoid the Uber eats monster for a few more days.

Posted in 2018, habits, twenty18, twentyeighteen | Comments Off on Day um…. 17

Day 9

Posted on January 9, 2018 by Tara Jo

better eating. the weekend had a few rough spots as did monday, we didn’t make perfect dinner choices but we discussed the pros and cons and made a decision. today had us right back on track with a home-cooked meal.

better habits. i am doing great on the habits front day 9 still completing and tracking the habits i want to make part of my routine.

still making 2018 my bitch

Posted in 2018, habits, knitting, twenty18, twentyeighteen | Comments Off on Day 9

Day 6

Posted on January 6, 2018 by Tara Jo

still making better meal choices. We had dinner out friday night, but once in a 5 day period is honestly unheard of for us. we rarely cook even one meal at home during the week.

spent the afternoon today with the kid, we cleaned and decluttered the desk and shelf unit in my old office room and then i helped her sort through a bunch of boxes she had stored here in her old room. we made great progress! what a feeling of accomplishment!

there were some tears as we stumbled across things that would evoke a sudden memory of some we have lost (a rock of all things was my kryptonite today), but that was tempered by finding silly forgotten things like this…

and these fangs! and bow tie!

and i still can’t find my pecan…

Posted in 2018, family, laugh until you can't breathe, memories, twentyeighteen | Tagged , , | Comments Off on Day 6

Day 4, bitches

Posted on January 4, 2018 by Tara Jo

so i decided this year to make no resolutions, i am going to make *changes*

build better habits, eat better food, in general just be better in many ways

i guess you could say that better is my word for 2018

 

so it is day 4, i have done all the things i have in mind for right now for 4 days in a row.  i am going to sporadically update on my successes and failures as we go.  but for now.  success!!

 

cheers

Posted in changes, twenty18, twentyeighteen | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on Day 4, bitches

happy new year

Posted on January 1, 2018 by Tara Jo

2016 was not a terrible year, we played some games,  got to travel a bit, visit family and celebrate their special day.  met some new friends and found a new friday night hangout place.  got some visits from family and friends as well.   looking forward to 2018 and new adventures.

 

Posted in family, photography | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on happy new year

my mom is magic!! and merry christmas

Posted on December 25, 2017 by Tara Jo

i am going to flip the script a bit here, this wasn’t a strange phone call from my mom, it was a strange phone call to my mom!

so christmas eve day found my daughter and i making an old family cookie recipe that involves rolling and cutting the dough,while the boys talked about video games and got started on the holiday cheer. we followed the instructions and go the dough mixed up and it held together well in the bowl (as expected)

however when we tried to take a ball and roll it out on the counter it broke apart. we thought we should add a bit more milk, but i never bake and the kid leans more toward cupcake mastery, so we did the smart thing and called mom/grandma for help. i described in detail what was happening, that it seemed right in the bowl but wasn’t quite ready when being rolled. she thinks for a second or two and says, add 2 tablespoons of milk and mix it all in.

and i shit you not, from 1500 miles away, that woman somehow looked at my bowl, might have even kneaded it a little in some magical way and knew not only that we needed more milk but exactly how much we needed. MAGIC I SAY!

P.S. the cookies were excellent.

Spicy griddle cookies (no need for the oven)

3 1/2 cups sifted all purpose flour

1 cup sugar

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp pumpkin or apple pie spice

1 cup shortening

1 egg

1/2 cup milk

stir dry ingredients together in bowl, cut in shortening til mixture is mealy. Beat egg and milk together, add to flour and mix until well blended.

Roll out 1/4 in thin and cut into desired shapes.

Heat griddle until water drops ‘dance’ on it. Lightly greas griddle, place cut outs on it leaving space between cookies

Flip when tops become ‘puffy’. makes around 4 dozen 2 inch cookies

Best served warm

Posted in cookies, family, strange phone calls from mom | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on my mom is magic!! and merry christmas

T99, wait no 99k

Posted on May 20, 2017 by Tara Jo

So as i sit here this morning enjoying my coffee and a quick crossword puzzle before the rest of the household begins to stir, the phone rings.

i see my mom’s name on the screen and know it is time for  a strange phone call from mom!

i can hear a  lot of background noise and realize it is an auctioneer going a mile a minute, and Mom says, ” i need you to do me a favor ASAP look up a singer T99 and see if it is a featherweight.”

To many this may seem like gibberish, but i hopped into action and googled “Singer T99 Sewing Machine “.Mmom confirms she can’t get too close to it so isn’t sure of the model number, my google search comes back with a 99k in a search result and just about then she confirms it is indeed a 99k   As i read to her from one of the links, that it is not a featherweight, but appears to be the precursor to such and it comes in just under 30 lbs.  we discuss the prices on the ebay/etsy listings and she determines her highest bid and we disconnect the call.

i love my mom and as always, you know that i feel it is important to tell people you love them, even if it is simply by asking for an auction item lookup and delivering said data in a quick, concise response 😀

I will update later with the results, did she get it, or did someone bid higher?!  (i know you can’t wait for the results)

Posted in family, sewing, strange phone calls from mom | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment