Travel Tuesday

Well, I'm on the road again! 

Today I leave to meet Sandy at the Barnsley spa/resort in GA. I'll meet her there for lunch. Then we'll take a tour of the ruins of the Manor House and garden. After that, we should be able to check in. 

We'll only be gone a couple days, but we're looking forward to it. I'm also hoping to get a few updated pictures.

Me on Monday

Whew! It's been a long weekend--no pun intended!

My sisters arrived on Thursday afternoon--all 6 of them!!

I wanted to take a picture of them with all of their stuff like I always did for Camp Aunt Barb, but half of them had put their stuff away by the time I got this shot! From left--clockwise: Joyce, Janet, Jeanne, Janice, Sharon and Jennifer.

Don't think by looking at Janice in this picture that we aren't having a good time! Janice is having some serious cognitive problems and gets overwhelmed easily. When we're all together, it's VERY loud--more than she can handle. She didn't want/understand about doing a picture, hence the scowl!

Janice was busy snatching any phone lying around. She no longer has a phone since she kept leaving it at many places. Jennifer felt like it was time to take it away. Actually, she didn't know how to use it anyway. At one point, she had picked up 4 of our phones! She got pretty upset when we tried to get them back. We had to keep and eye on her to see where she was going to hide them. She takes all kinds of little things and hides them, or just moves stuff around. I didn't care--it kept her busy. 

The girls told me that she had tried to put the password in my phone too many times. 

I have never seen the message before!! Good to know that my phone can't easily be hacked!

The weather didn't cooperate, so we didn't get any pool time at all. Still we had fun playing many games. Stephanie and Mindy and the boys came over Friday night. The sisters were happy to see them and my girls were happy to see the sisters!! 

We ate a lot. A. Lot! We drank a lot. A. Lot! We talked a lot. A. Lot. We argued a lot. A. Lot. We even cried a lot. Okay not really a lot, just a little.

We can never all agree on anything. Stephanie made the observation while playing poker with us that we fought like kids---back and forth, very loud! I will admit, I made a comment that came back to bite me! During a poker game, Joyce and I were the last ones "in." She is the baby of the family. I said I was dropping because she was "too stupid" to try to bluff me!! Well, bluff me she did! I jinxed myself for the rest of the time. Still, all in good fun!

I did so poorly that I texted my friends a picture of sixty cents that I had left with the caption: "Well, I'm playing with some real poker players! Only the first night and I'm losing 10 bucks!" 

You might recall that I won quite a bit from my friends when we were at the beach a couple months ago. While at the beach, winning,  I sent a picture of the $35.00 I won from my friends to my sisters with the caption: "Like taking candy from babies!"

Connie "nailed it" when she responded to my message about losing 10 bucks: "No, you lost 10 bucks of OUR money!" Hahaha! Then I texted them that I needed them to come over next week to play poker. I lost $47.00 over the 3 days! Basically, that was ALL of my coins! My poker purse (which I inherited from my mom) is completely empty of coins!

It's been six years since we were last together all at the same time. We've vowed to get together every year. We can rotate cities--St. Louis, South Bend and even Salem, MO. We need to do it. We MUST do it. 

I miss them a lot. A. Lot!

What I Buy Wednesday

Whew! I'm still catching up after our trip. My sisters--all SIX of them (my 2 sister-in-laws have been in the family for 50 years, so they are sisters!) are arriving tomorrow for a long weekend. Sooo, it will be next week until I can get back on track with the blog. 

But, I can post what Sandy, Mindy and I bought in Paris. Stephanie forgot to photograph hers. 

Once we were on the trip, the weather was a bit grey and cloudy. I decided that I wanted to get an umbrella. I don't know what's happened to all of our umbrellas. I have an ugly black one in my car. I also have my London one. Now I have a Paris one. I've already put it in my car. When I saw the scarf, it reminded me that I need a new white one. I liked the little silver Eiffel towers. I got the Starbucks mug from Disneyland Paris. We spent Sandy's birthday there. The macaron key chain was an impulse buy because it was something like 2 for10€ or 3 for 12€. Steph treated me so I didn't really buy it! I've put it on the little white tree I have in my scrapbook room. Butch bought the chocolates from Stohrers dating back to 1730.

It's such a cute shop. Nicky bought what he says is the best chocolates he's ever had here. He gave me a taste--it was pistachio filled--really delicious!

Lastly, the lemon napkins---I bought them since I had just put together my summer table scape.

Notice the vase of flowers. They couldn't be more perfect. They are from Mindy and Justin for us giving up our aisle and window seats on the international flight from hell to get home! We traded them for an aisle and a middle. Oh, the things you'll do for the love of your children! I want everybody to be happy! Anyway, the flowers were a fun surprise.

Now for Sandy's purchases: 

She made quite a haul. She got herself 3 Starbucks mugs: two from Disneyland and Disney Studios and one from Paris. The champagne flutes are from Disney too--the glasses came with the purchase. The purse was her birthday present--June 3rd--we celebrated at Disneyland. She got a birthday button to wear. You can see her macaron key chain. She bought the placemat for Titan's food and water bowl. I love her gold tote and hat. The macarons in the box and the baguette in the box are socks. The cup is from Laduree'--she and Greg had a really good brunch there. 

Greg got himself this chef's apron, a flag pin--and I think the other two things might be stickers. 

Mindy and Justin:

*Chocolates shaped like little pastries

*Eiffel Tower chip clips

*2 kinds of tea (one from champagne and one from the place on our street)

*Face cream and face mask from local shops

*Souvenir Disneyland champagne flute

*Disneyland Starbucks mug

*Bottle of champagne from the small family-owned vineyard they went to

*Pins for their backpack

I'd say we all did our part to add to the economy of Paris!! 

From now on, I think we are going to have "show and tell" when we are together. 

Me on Monday

Well, we just got back from our trip to Paris. Of course, I have a lot to share--but it's going to take a few days to get my act together. In the meantime, here's my recap of May by the numbers.

Movies Seen—0—my friends and I gave up our Regal Crown Club membership--it's all horror, sci-fi, kids movies or Marvel. There's just nothing that interesting to see.

Books Read—14 (It's sad that only 4 out of 14 were 5 stars)

  5 Star:

A Good Girls Guide to Murder

A Perfect Marriage

The Briar Club---favorite of the month.

Animal Farm (yes, I read this in high school, but I wanted to read it again).

Podcasts—5

Lunch Out—7

Dinner Out:—3

Documentaries/Movies/Series  

Hulu:

***The Tanya Kach Story

*****The American Pope

*****Deli Boys—7 episodes

****Mother’s Instinct

*****The Ken & Barbie Killers—4 episodes

*****College Greek Life (6 episodes)

*****Foxhollow Murders (4 episodes)

***Chondra Levy

***Secrets of Miss America

*****Hunting Jon Bonnett’s Killer

****My Crazy Arrest (2 episodes)

Netflix :

****Scouts Honor

Peacock

*****Law and Order Organized Crime—3 episodes--I love this show, but it's hard to keep up with now. I don't know when new episodes come out which means I have to remember to check it.

Scrapbook Pages Completed: 3

Flower & Garden

Home Depot:           $200.00

Roadside stand              45.71

Home Depot    121.55

Total:                          $367.26

I decided to go with ALL red again this year. 

This is just a view of one side--right after planting. Wouldn't it be somethin' if my clematis was red? Red just shows up so much better.

Trips:

London with Janet & Butch—12 days

Okay, that wraps up another month!

Monday Mystery

While we were in Wales, we came across this unusual thing.

It looks like a big ball on a pole. There appears to be a hole in the top and then four more holes along the bottom. Right under the four holes are 3 stepping stones on the ground.

I have no idea what it is. Butch guessed that it's some sort of game--like 4 kids line up around the ball and toss a ball into the top. Wherever it comes out, the kid standing there has to catch it. Then they have to keep moving back on the stones. 

I guess that sounds logical. Still, the game must have a name. We asked our tour guide, but he had no idea. He agreed with Butch's theory. 

It's a mystery for sure. But then, I like a mystery that can be solved. Anyone??

I decided to do a search: "game with big ball and four holes on the bottom?"

What popped up was this:

Funnel Ball

To play: You and three friends would stand around the Funnel Ball pole, one at each opening. One would throw a basketball or kickball into the top and everyone would wait for it to come out from their opening. Then the lucky kid who did get the ball to come out on their side would get hit in the head by it, start crying, and run to teacher. Thus the Funnel Ball match was completed.

Sounds fun doesn't it? 

Scrapbook Saturday

We had our AYM meeting last week. Several of the members are a little behind, so they are not all represented.

This is my April layout--Easter through the years:

Nancy--she's big in to sports.

Nancy--February happenings.

Susan--I type her journaling so that's not on the page yet.

Susan--Mardi Gras.

Friday Funnies

Okay, this one took me a minute. Then I thought it was hilarious!!