Christmas countdown

I think I need a vacation to recover from my vacation. Luckily I only have 14 more days of work before 9 days off in a row. I can't wait!

In the meantime, I have KISS in Austin this weekend, a party in Mountain Home the weekend after that, graduation, and multiple holiday gatherings. Let's hope I get through it all without a major crash. Today I had to take a 90 minute nap during my extended lunchtime. But I did manage to finish cleaning and decorating my office and am nearly done decking the halls and organizing the garage.

Today I found this pic of Alisa and me in Branson a couple of weeks ago. We had so much fun!

Weekend recap

I don't have time for witty prose, but I did want to report that Alisa and I had a fabulous time in Branson this weekend. I ate too much and spent too much, but it was fun to spend time with her. We don't get to hang out, just the two of us, very often these days.

Now I'm doing laundry, baking cookies, making a grocery shopping list, and packing for Texas.

I'm also hurting from running yesterday. Granted, I walked more than I ran, and I totally skipped out on the last mile (hey, the course goes by my house, I get lazy), but I feel very old and achy. There's some serious Aleve p.m. in my future.

Hooray for vacation!

Everything's bigger in... well, you know

What a great weekend! Memaw and I got to Temple around 8 on Thursday night, and I arrived back in Siloam just after 6 last night. In four days we attended two parties, had one of our own, walked a 5K, attended a flag football game, witnessed a dance-off and multiple kid fits.

It's weird how, the closer you get to home, the more work and the daily grind begin to creep back into your life. Thankfully I get to go back to Texas in three weeks for Thanksgiving, and before that I go to Boston, an 80s prom, and have a Branson shopping trip with Alisa.

For now, please enjoy another entry in the Brady and Mini-Me dance-a-thon. And all the pics from this weekend are here, in case you don't have Facebook.



(This makes three family members dancing to this song. Memaw, you and Lon are next!)

Weekend update

At least one person has been waiting for me to post (thank you, Debbie), but I've been out of town since Wednesday, staying in hotels and with family, eating out and in my car, and driving. And driving some more. I filled up my car three days in a row.

Last week I momentarily considered renting out my extra room as a bed and breakfast. Granted, a Diet Coke is considered breakfast in my world, but still... I paid 120 bucks for a hotel room on Wednesday night in NLR that was less than luxurious. My guest bed is more comfortable than a hotel's. My towels less scratchy. I could totally slam some doors in the middle of the night and turn the TV up loudly, so I think it could work.

On Thursday night I checked into the other end of the spectrum... the Hilton at Branson Landing. Thankfully it's off-season and I got a great room rate, but it was one of the nicest rooms I've seen in quite a while. Too bad I was there a mere 10 hours. Upon arrival, the desk clerk asked me if I wanted self-parking for $8 or valet for $12. HELLO... it's 9 degrees outside and I'm a pretty, pretty princess, so what do you think I chose?!? I think the valet was in keeping with the comfortable bed, flat screen TV and fabulous tub. The couple yelling next door? Not so great.

After a productive meeting and lunch at Macaroni Grill (yum!), I attended the big Hartford vs. Hackett game Friday night, and it was painful. Let's just say the mercy rule was enforced during the fourth quarter. Good for Taylor, bad for my alma mater.

I was so tired that I slept until 10 a.m. on Saturday, then Taylor and I went to see Chance play basketball in the afternoon. Chance had 20 points (AKA 75% of the team total) and got the offensive award for the day. He really, really wants the ball... so much so that he follows his teammates around while they dribble and yells for them to throw it to him. If he could pass it to himself, he would.

Brad and I went out to dinner last night, then I drove back to Siloam. Today I've just been doing laundry, taking naps, and catching up on my DVR. Thankfully there's no travel this week, and it will be great to get back to my routine. I haven't been on the treadmill since Wednesday and I can feel my rear end getting bigger.

Plus or minus

To continue with my previous diatribe about the good and bad associated with my job, I realized tonight that, even though I truly love what I'm doing and feel like I'm helping people, if the portions of my days were assigned a numerical score (add numbers for good stuff and subtract for not-so-good stuff), my end-of-the-day score would often be in the negative.

For example, I got to work this morning early and did my weekly report. +5 for being productive! I sent out admissions letters from last week. +5 for productivity but -5 for procrastination, so it's a wash. This afternoon I rode to a meeting in Branson to speak to some prospective students. 5 hours in a car with three virtual strangers in the rain has got to be at least -20. Macaroni Grill for dinner is a +10 or so, but a 13-hour workday is a minimum of -10, so all together, I'm at least 15 points behind for the day. Hmmm... all of my New England positive points are being negated by the overly-scheduled, impossibly unproductive days that have followed.

Rainy days and Mondays indeed.

Underwater

For those of you who continue to think that I live an easy life, I submit to you the following: I have worked seven days in a row. Yes, I am taking four days off next week after a mere 10 weeks on the job, but I have to work tomorrow to clear off my desk and all day Monday, so considering I worked last Sunday and today, it's not really four days off. Feel sorry for me yet?

Today I left my house at 12:30 and headed to Fayetteville to pick up my coworker, Chris, so that we could go to Branson to attend graduation for the Kanakuk Institute. The Institute is for students who recently received a bachelor's degree. They spend nine months in intensive Bible study to train as ministry paraprofessionals and, if they choose, they can concurrently receive a master's degree in ministry on our campus. Hence the reason we were there.

What I never realized until today was just how very impressive these young people are, how passionate about the Word of God and their mission to advance the cause of Christ. It was very humbling.

In his speech to the graduates, the President of the Institute quoted someone who said (and I'm totally paraphrasing here), "My greatest fear is that I will work too hard on things that do not have eternal consequences." We are not all called to be ministers or missionaries or musicians, but we are all called to serve God, and to further the Kingdom.

After graduation we went to Branson Landing to eat dinner, and several of the restaurants were closed because the lake level is so high that the parking lots and seating areas are under water, and evidently many of the restaurants don't have propane. We finally found a Mexican restaurant open, but they had a limited menu.

I got home at 10 p.m., so that's a nine-and-a-half hour day. I did get dinner, but there was no shopping. It ain't easy being me.

Let's spring back!

I don't know about you, but I want my hour back. I missed church this morning since I forgot about the whole "Spring Forward" thing.

Yesterday Amanda and I went to Tulsa for dinner and some shopping. It was my inaugural trip on Hwy 412 (otherwise known as the $4.50 toll road). It took us about 30 minutes to get back through the toll since the toll booth was unmanned, the change machine was broken, and few folks have 9 quarters at their immediate disposal. When are those things going to take debit cards? The lady in front of us threw dollar bills in the thing and drove through while the sirens went off. Amanda and I could barely scrape up enough change between the two of us, all the while punch-drunk laughing while singing "Bennie and the Jets" at the top of our lungs.

The shopping excursion was a bust since Amanda purchased a bottle of water and I purchased nothing at all, but at least there was a great meal. We also went to the Apple store, where I saw the beautiful MacBook Air for the first time in person. Impressive, but out of the ol' price range.

Tomorrow I'm headed to Branson for a meeting, but I guess there won't be shopping since one of my coworkers will be with me and I'm guessing he's not interested in outlet shopping. And tomorrow night I'm going to my first singles Bible study in town. Should be interesting.

I've been everywhere, man

Let me preface this post by admitting that I'm a brat. A spoiled brat who has a cheese-ball life. The past four days have merely confirmed that.

On Friday, my event ended at 9 a.m., so I took a minor detour on my way to Mountain Home through Branson for a bit of shopping. My outlet shopping experience has always been that it's either great and you find lots of stuff, or you find zilch. My shopping fell into the former category. Not only did I find Ann Taylor suits for $50, I found shoes for $19. And it was such a beautiful day, that I walked down the cobblestone pathway at Branson Landing and felt pretty bratty.

Estella, Chris and I had dinner at El Chico on Friday night. Then, on Saturday morning, I had a fantastic massage, followed by lunch at the club with Estella and Heather, a two-hour nap, and an evening movie.

Yesterday I went to church with Estella and Chris (ET had to play handbells); Chris let me drive his vehicle, and let me tell ya, there's no cooler feeling than driving up to the club for Sunday brunch behind the wheel of a Porsche. Nice.

After brunch yesterday I took a nap, then we went to see the worst movie ever, There Will Be Blood. I want three hours of my life back.

I had a meeting in Mountain Home this morning, then I drove for three hours in the deluge. Now I'm in my hotel room, getting ready to meet Joe for dinner at Michelangelo's.

Hey... I told you I was a brat.

There you go, Jen. The weekend update.

Lessons from Branson

As someone committed to education, I try to learn something new everyday. This is what I've learned today...

1. The average age in Branson is 72.
2. Looking at Christmas lights is no longer cheap entertainment... it's now quite a racket.
3. Any Branson show, regardless of genre, will include corny jokes, a patriotic medley, and a singer flirting with an old lady.
4. I will always be seated next to the fattest woman/man in the theatre, who will always hog the armrest.
5. Memaw will never fail to embarrass me by trying to get her cheap thrills by finding free stuff (tonight she forced me to go into Bath & Body Works so that she could use three coupons for free lotion.... they were not original coupons and there was a limit of one per customer... her response was to point to each of us and insist that we are indeed three separate people... I was cowering behind a display at that point).
6. Although the population of Branson is less than 10,000, there are more than half a million who try to drive down Hwy 76 at any given moment, most of whom are trying to turn left.
7. Granny really, really likes apple butter.
8. The average wait time in Branson restaurants is 45 minutes.
9. Lonnie and Jennifer are cookie thieves.
10. Hell must have frozen over, because I'm rooting for OU to win a football game.

Toenail clippings and chocolate poptarts

My sincere apologies for neglecting the blog yesterday. I know the three of you who faithfully read "The Daily Drivel" were disappointed. But alas, I woke up yesterday feeling like poo, so I stayed home and slept all day. (Dad and Memaw... I'm fine now. No need to call and check on me.)

So after 18 hours or so of Nyquil-induced sleep, I spent the evening in the kitchen. I made a breakfast casserole for this morning's office potluck, and a roast for my dear cousin Lonnie. It brought back memories of our time as roommates, when he would rake his toenail clippings into the crevice of my coffee table and eat chocolate poptarts two meals a day. Ah, good times. Lonnie did learn to expand his dietary horizons when he lived with me... I exposed him to broccoli salad and his favorite, pot roast, so I made him one for old time's sake. It's nice that someone appreciates my domesticity, even if it's someone related to me.

Jen's in Atlanta (or Mylanta, as Taylor used to call it), taking some sort of "turn your head and cough" exam, and Lon's got gate duty, so I'm headed to Maumelle after work to pick up Huey, Dewey, and Louie from school. I invited myself to their house tonight to watch the Cowboys/Packers game since I, like 80 million other people, don't get the NFL network.

And if that's not punishment enough for my misdeeds, I get to go to Branson this weekend with my mom's sister and my 83-year-old grandmother, who will surely be wearing something bedazzled to the Bob-o-Links or whatever painful show she drops $150 on tickets for.

Happy festivus, folks. Serenity now!

Long Night

I feel like I've been ran over by a big truck. After a wonderful dinner (see visual below) and a rousing game of Mexican train, we went to bed with the intent of going to Branson today. Unfortunately we spent most of the evening in the ER, so no Branson. But the good news is that 'Stella's fine and I get to watch the game. Hmm... I'd rather watch football than shop. Go figure.

Life on the mountain

Howdy from Baxter County! We had such a great day. Slept in, went hiking at the lake, then had a fantastic lunch at Gaston's resort. Then we took long naps and enjoyed a fabulous dinner of salmon, black bean salad, and gazpacho.

Here are some pics from today.





Tomorrow we're headed to Branson to go to Branson Landing and shop.