We ran away from home!

34. Trip to Capt. Henderson House Bed & Breakfast

To "celebrate" the one week anniversary of Brian's rotator cuff surgery, I kidnapped him Thursday and took him all the way to Arkadelphia :) "Take BC to the Henderson House" has been on my actual Bucket List for quite some time, but I've had trouble finding a time to accomplish this. Poor Brian is stuck wearing a large, bulky sling for 4 weeks, and he is not supposed to drive for that full 4 weeks. AND we don't have cable TV to make his confinement a little easier :( So I just decided Wednesday that the time was now! He wanted to go in to work for a little bit (a co-worker chauffered him), so I gave him strict instructions to be home by noon, and pack a change of clothes and a toothbrush. We got in the car around 1:00 (departure delayed a little with the welcome opportunity to Skype with Ben) and headed south. Brian was a little worried about the fact that I was driving and I was the only one who knew our destination- who would be able to make sure I didn't miss any turns? I'm known for my absence of any sense of direction. We stopped for a late lunch (see next entry) and got to the Capt. Henderson House in Arkadelphia around 3:30. We checked in and then met up with our friend, Mike Reynolds, who gave us a tour of Ouachita. Wow- it is SO different from when we were students there. And it is looks great! Way to go, OBU!
Mike dropped us back at the front door of the CHH. I have stayed there before with some friends and LOVE it. And this time did not disappoint! We had a nice suite, with cable TV :), a relaxing whirlpool tub, and a great breakfast Friday morning.
Here are a few pictures, to further entice you to run away from home yourself. Take your hubby, your friend(s), or just yourself. You'll be relaxed & refreshed.






























*The picture of the plate of food is in special tribute to Deborah "Sam Perkins" White, who took pictures of every plate of food she ate on her recent mission trip with Brian's crew to Haiti :)






35. Fried Green Tomatoes

I have never tried fried green tomatoes! Until recently, I've never had a desire to try fried green tomatoes :) But, now that I am 55 and so brave... I branched out. On our way to Arkadelphia, we ate at Brown's Country Store & Restaurant in Benton (another "first" but I'm gonna lump all the restaurant firsts together later). Brown's boasts that it has a 100' buffet table and it is filled with country cookin' comfort foods, like chicken & dumplins, turnip greens, cornbread, fried chicken, and FGT. They would probably taste better served fresh, rather than sitting out on a buffet line, and maybe a little crispier, but they were pretty tasty. I'll try them again another day, another place.

Canvas family portrait

33. Finally have a canvas print of a family portrait.

(Forgot to post this one earlier.)
Remember the family portrait we finally took at the beach? I have long wanted a nice 16x20 canvas family picture in our house. Using that beach picture and a site called Canvas on Demand, I uploaded the digital print and had the canvas delivered and hung on the wall within about a week of our return from vacation! Very pleased with the finished product. They even upgraded to a 16x22 size to better fit my picture. Good customer service!

Plastic surgeon's office...

Guess what I did today???



No!!!
32. I got a microdermabrasion facial and chemical peel :)
Sponsored by--- yep, Groupon. My friend, Tommie, and I went this afternoon and cashed in our certificates. They let us go together, so it was even more fun since we could talk throughout the whole procedure. Not sure we look any younger, but our skin is definitely smoother (and saltier). Apparently Tommie is likely to age better than I will, her and her good thin skin!
Our "Aesthetics Clinician" was very nice, friendly, and good at her job. So, if you need a referral for botox, permanent eyeliner, lip/chin waxing, teeth whitening, or just a facial, let me know.

Pottery pictures

Forgot to post a picture of #24's pottery after the gift-giving on Father's Day. Here they are:





Mindy's & Cale's cute popcorn bowl










and Jude's & my...uhhh...colorful bowl.
Not sure where that 6th finger came from :)

My name in lights!!!

First, a quick addendum to the last Kroger post- due to the amount of money I have spent at Kroger lately (or maybe, that Cate & I have spent...), I got this message at the gas pump yesterday---

Save 30 cents a gallon??? YES, PLEASE!!! :)

This trip to the gas pump was a little nerve-wracking. In an attempt to be brave, take chances, step out of my comfort zone, whatever...I practically coasted to the pump, as I let my gas gauge get down to this:

Don't plan to repeat that trick!

31. My name is in lights! And spelled correctly!



I got a surprisingly great kick out of this sight! It is in a lighted glass case outside the Royal Theater in Benton. I am playing keyboard for the musical "Cinderella" there this summer. Except for the 30-mile commute :( I really have fun playing for shows at the Royal. I've met lots of great people who are also very good actors. This show has some exceptionally good voices in the cast. And I enjoy working with Duane. This is the 1st time I've seen him as "Director" and he has a great eye for details, AND good patience with all that a musical involves. Duane played Jesus in the first Community Theater production I ever accompanied, "Cotton Patch Gospel" in 2000. This is my 10th musical to accompany (I know this because, with a nod to an earlier post about "embracing your nerdiness," I keep a scrapbook of the shows I've participated in!)
"Cinderella" promises to be great entertainment, with some scenes that have me laughing out loud at the keyboard at every rehearsal. Consider yourself invited- see poster for details!

Big Kroger savings!

30. Saved $100 at Kroger!

It's Tuesday, and you know what that means--- Sr. discount at Kroger! I actually organized my coupons today and headed to the store at 4 p.m. (Most of my fellow seniors, I'm sure, had already finished their shopping, put away the groceries, and were getting up from their naps by now!) Two and a half hours later !!! I finished my shopping, though I mostly hit up the right side of Kroger- still need more real food from the left side...

My receipt shows that I saved:
$39.49 in MFG CPN savings
2.00 in Bonus CPN savings
48.81 in Kroger Plus savings
for a total of $90.30 (31%)

But wait, there's more--- my nice little checker guy didn't ask "do you want to use your Senior discount?" so I inquired about it. He said it didn't show up, but that I could go to Customer Service with my receipt and get refunded. That amounted to another $10.04, for a Grand Total of $100.34!!!

Disclaimer: I apparently accidentally cheated Kroger- my receipt said that my "Senior 5% Discount was used on Jun 21, 2011." I called Cate on my way home and she said that she had been shopping just an hour before me and was asked if she wanted to use her Senior discount. She said "Huh? Uh, sure!" so we unintentionally used it twice in the same day. We didn't know that we are evidently using the same Kroger card. No wonder she never gets her 10-cent per gallon discount- I beat her to it every month! Poor Cate :)

As a side note, I have a little extra shampoo, deoderant, and toothpaste if you are running low. Probably gonna donate a little to some folks who need it more than we do. And I have 15 bottles of Gatorade (it was buy 10, get 5 free!), but I'm sure Brian & Clay can handle that surplus :)

Grandson Scrapbooks

29. Start scrapbook for each grandson.

Months ago, I bought scrapbooks for all 3 of my grandsons, with the intention of making a personal book about each boy that they would enjoy looking at and that Nana & Granddad would also enjoy. I have been just sticking baby shower invitations, birth announcement clippings, pictures, etc. in the Hobby Lobby sack with the 3 binders and postponing the actual starting of the books. This week I decided to "git 'er done!" Yesterday I laid out all my memorabilia- seems I have considerably more for one little boy than for the other 2... Need to work on that!

To picture this project, you must hark back to the olden days, when we kept our report cards, Valentine cards from boys, class pictures, notes from boys, etc. in a scrapbook. This is my model- sadly, a far cry from the beautifully embellished books that are works of art these days. Didn't want to set the bar too high, as I plan to do a book for every grandchild, and who knows how many that could be???

Each book begins with a family tree and has a greeting card I found last year with a Birth Verse on it. For example, Jude's birthday is 7/25 and his Birth Verse is Hebrews 7:25- "Therefore He is able to save completely those who come to God through Him, because He always lives to intercede for them." Cale's is Romans 8:18- "I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us." And Ben's is Psalm 9:2- "I will be glad and rejoice in You; I will sing praise to Your name, O Most High."

Hopefully, I will continue to add pictures of birthdays and a few holidays, as well as sports, music, school accomplishments and fun events to remember always.