I know I’ve been a slacker in posting but it’s because we’ve been having way too much fun lately to be sitting in front of a computer.  That and I’ve been travelling which means I’m not near a computer near as often.  I need to start sharing my random airport thoughts with you since lately I swear I’ve seen everyone from Darth Vadar (without the mask…scary) to a woman doing her best wardrobe impersonation of a peacock.  If anyone can teach me to post from an e-mail I’ll start sharing but in the mean time feel free to follow me on twitter: dlparr. 

What has been so much fun you ask?  Well the wonderful game of corn hole.  Now I admit that it has not taken up ALL of my time, but we have officially taught our Southern friends this fun game.  You see when we moved here we heard that everyone hangs out in the street in the evenings.  Since Dave is always sleeping through anything that happens before dark we make sure things keep moving after the sun goes down…well at least on weekends.

We do it full fledged redneck style complete with the cooler in the driveway and the extension cord light.  Oh and do you like the  vintage (I’ll call it vintage because he’s changed his number) Dale Jr boards?  I had them made for Dave’s birthday 2 years ago.  You can’t do it redneck style without Nascar

This weekend Sam and Missy came over too. 

We had burgers and wings on the grill and their dinner at a fancy restaurant had not filled Sam up so he dove right in.  Sam is the pro at Ridgeway who puts up with my beginner golf,  trying to make something of my swing. Thankfully Missy is learning with me she keeps all of us laughing and knows how to have fun.  Sam wasn’t up for following my corn hole throwing advice…I could only get it on the board when I lifted my leg ballerina style.  No I wasn’t a ballerina, that was my sister.  I was very ungraceful growing up and they likely would have kicked me out of dance class for falling down too many times. I likely had very poor form at corn hole too.

James and Jaime are our dear friends/neighbors.  I go see their 2 adorable little boys when I need a baby fix.  Dave is very glad we’ve become friends Although if we keep up the beer & margarita portion of the night I think they’re going to disown us…we don’t have to get up with the crying baby at 5am.  It’s OK though because they do ocassionally pay me back with a mean text the next morning when they get up!  Since Dave is up by 6 latest he’s usually poking me saying “you’re phone is beeping.”  We love them anyway!

So this is our weekend activity from about 9pm until the real grown-ups (aka parents) call it quits – that was for you James .  Dinner of some sort then corn hole and beer in someone’s driveway.  Don’t worry if you think it’s too hot, Jaime will whip out the squirt guns.  Our crowd was smaller this weekend than others so I’ll have to introduce you to our other neighbors later.  If you’re in the area come on over.

I’m a bloggy addict and thought you might enjoy seeing some of my favorites that I follow on a regular basis.  If I don’t know your’s let me know and I’ll check it out!

Chateau Kaufman

Stoked

Three Men and  A Nurse

The Heringtons

Kevin & Amanda

Monster Paparazzi

My Charming Kids

Marriage Confessions

Daddy Scratches

The Pioneer Woman

Bakerella

Ikea Goddess

Can be ruined by 8 muddy paws….

Dave is playing golf this morning as per his Saturday morning ritual.  I had such wonderful plans.  I was going to the mall for some necessities, going to hit some balls (because I have to play with a customer in 11 days and I don’t know what I’m doing…but more on that later), maybe get a pedicure, eat some lunch then working on Mt Washmore until he comes home and whisks me off to watch other people play golf at the St Jude’s Classic.  It really sounded like a wonderful day to me.  Thankfully all of the above items (excluding Mt Washmore) didn’t really HAVE to be done today, they were wants.

We had some terrible storms come through last night but the sun has been shining beautifully today so I had every intention of letting the dogs play in the back yard until I got out of the shower.  We have one part of our yard where grass refuses to grow so it gets a bit muddy.  I didn’t check it because the sun was shining and most days the pups stay away from the mud.  Unfortunately they can’t handle being good outside when the neighbor dogs are out.  As soon as they hear each other or get a glimpse of each other through the fence the barking starts.  Honestly the barking doesn’t bother me so much…it’s what the barking means…MUD.  Tank thinks it’s necessary to get as close to the ground as possible when the dachshunds are out because they can almost touch noses under the fence.

I swiftly grabbed Tank up out of the muck and as I feared he was covered, toes to chin in mud.  Buckeye didn’t look bad so I let him follow behind intending for him to be the good dog that he is when we get to the door.  Unfortunately today “stay” ment nothing to Buckeye.  But my kick (nothing dramatic or hard, but my hands were full of his filthy brother) to the behind and the words “outside” meant something.  Thankfully he can’t handle being out of our sight so he whined at the back door away from the mud while I threw Tank into the shower and went back to get Buckeye.  Here’s where I made my first major mistake…

I picked up my 27lb boson terrier and carried him to the bathroom and without closing the door behind me I opened the door to the shower and set him down.  Apparently Tank was posed for escape because he bolted.  I’m still trying to figure out how he got around me.  I slammed the shower door behind me and ran after him through the house praying he stayed off the good rugs and furniture.  I bribed him with a treat and yelled “COME!”  Well Buckeye knows the sound of the treat jar and he knows the word come…a shower door was not going to deter him.  They both rounded the corner full speed mud flying from their little bodies all over my walls and floors jumped straight into their crates and looked up at me expectantly.  They did not get their goodies! I was furious!! 

I spent the next hour cleaning my walls and floors (not near finished btw) and plotted my next move.  Now an unsuspecting person may have taken the dogs out back with a garden hose.  But the reality is that my 7lb yorkie not only quite slippery when wet but extremely fast and his  27lb brother is pure muscle and will get away if he wants to.   A bath in the yard by myself?  Nope I needed a contained area.  I thought I had it all figured out.

I carried Tank to the shower, turned the water on and laid their towels out on the floor. 

With him safely contained I closed the bathroom door and went to get Buckeye.

I checked to make sure I had everything, picked him up and put him in the shower.

Then I realized their soap was under the kitchen sink instead of the bathroom.  I looked at the both in the eye and firmly said “STAY” and prayed Buckeye forgot in that hour time that he could open the shower door.

I closed both doors, ran quickly to the kitchen grabbed the shampoo and held my breath and opened the bathroom door.

Have you seen Daddy Day Care?  Do you know the part where Eddie Murphy opens the bathroom door and the horror music plays as he sees what the little boy has done to the bathroom?  I had the full reenactment except with Dogs…well and mine was mud instead of #2.  Buckeye had opened the shower door again (can you buy locks for those things?) and my master bathroom was covered in mud…keep in mind the shower was running so it was all nice and wet.  At least I had closed the bathroom door or I think I would have just asked Dave if it was time to move again.

They did not get out again.  They smell yummy and clean like Johnson & Johnson’s, are dry and sleeping like little angels.  These little monsters are lucky I love them so much.

I suppose most women can say that they have some level of a fear of bugs.  Yes I guess that is a little gender stereotyping but come on, you don’t see all that many men squealing over a small spider or a cockroach, but I sure do!  I would say that primarily my fear is related to spiders.  I can’t say I have serious arachnophobia because it doesn’t completely paralyze me or anything like that and I am fascinated my them when they are outside of my living space or behind glass, but I do tend to freak out a bit around them.  I’ve had one too many spiders in my house lately and the terminix guys is coming next friday to be my hero and take care of my spider issues…he didn’t help my sleeping habits at home though when he told me that the spiders I’ve been seeing were brown recluse. 

So despite the fact that I hate being away from home I was actually thinking that being in what I assume is a bug free hotel room I would be able to sleep without the fear of a spider crawling into bed, biting my leg and venom rotting away my flesh (gross I know but that’s what brown recluse do and I’ve been totally freaked out by it!)  But it’s nearing 1AM and there is a reason I’m still awake and feel like bugs are crawling all over me.

Back track several weeks ago…I was flying through CLT on my way to/from (I can’t remember) Ohio, when I reached into my bag to pull out my plane ticket to get ready to board and out comes this HUGE (I mean over 1″ long) black flying ant.  Since I have a slight entomophobia I certainly wasn’t going to pick up the bug and toss it off my bag so I did what any other rational person would do.  I hit my bag over and over squealing and panicking as quietly as I could until the ant landed on the ground and started crawling away.  I quickly moved so it couldn’t get on me or my suitcase praying it wouldn’t take flight.  As I was moving away I looked around and sheepishly explained the HUGE bug to the many people staring at me. Thankfully the couple sitting next to me claimed to have seen it so I didn’t look like a total nut case.

Anyway, what are the chances that the same bug would find it’s way to Ohio and decide to dive bomb me just before I fall asleep in what I thought was my safe, bug free hotel room?! Because I kid you not I met that same bug or it’s twin in my room tonight.  The GIANT black flying ant decided to sneak up on me when I was at my most vulnerable state.  Thankfully it’s wings knocking into the wall gave away his hide out right before he could attack!  I apologize if you happen to be in the room next to me or below me and heard my panicking squeals.  I did try to remain calm but since I had no one to come save me from the attack, I was forced to fend for myself.  Mr GIANT black flying ant was unlucky enough to find itself repeatedly under my Rachel Ray magazine (it’s a thick issue this month-which explains the loud banging noise you may have heard) and after using almost half a roll of wadded up toilet paper to pick up the monstrous creature, he has since been sent to a toilet grave.

That was nearly 2 hours ago and I’m all itchy and feel covered in creepy crawlies.  YUCK!

The best identification search I could come up with is a carpenter ant but seriously it was so big I wonder if it was really an ant…maybe one from the Amazon but not from Ohio.  And then an even worse thought, did it come from home or did I pick it up along the way.  Ugh it could have been travelling with me all day long!!! 

:::Screams:::  Sorry it was just my hair…I thought another one was on me…it’s going to be a long night.

Some how, after being up for almost 28 hours straight Dave still managed to get in the morning and bug me out of bed and down to breakfast.  I’m usually not a breakfast eater but it was so yummy!  Afterwards we decided to go to the pool for a couple hours.  I don’t have pictures because while my husband is all hot and sexy now I’m still not up for swim suit pictures.   But we played in the pool like little kids and soaked up some wonderful sunshine.

After cleaning up and deciding which of our wonderful new clothes to wear we went…you guessed it…shopping   We walked around the Mall at Greenhillsfor a couple of hours.  We went into a variety of stores that made me want to take back all of my shoes I’d purchased the day before…then Dave pointed out that not only had I already worn them but I still wouldn’t be able to make a dent in the price tag of the $500 Burberry dress.  So I put it back on the rack and asked if we could hang around until someone famous walked in.  I was convinced that I could flirt Keith Urban (no we didn’t actually see him just heard he frequents the store) into buying something for me but Dave vetoed that idea and bribed me away from the store with an Auntie Ann’s Lemonade.  He’s lucky I’m easy to please  

We then decided that since we were in Nashville it was probably time to see more of it than the many stores we don’t have in Memphis.  So we headed downtown.

Anytime you get into either of our cars you’re most likely going to be stuck listening to a country music station.  Haighway 16 and Prime Country are our 2 favorites (we’re XM radio addicts).  So obviously we were drawn to the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum. 

Unfortunately we didn’t have time to see the RCA Studio B where Elvis and many others recorded, but we did the general admission walk through of the museum and it was so neat.

I can’t remember who’s car this was, but the interior is covered in silver dollars. 

The museum starts at the beginning of country music’s roots and takes you through the whole history.  There were old instruments, clips of old movies, cars, and more…definitely worth seeing even if you aren’t a country fan.  There are more pictures in our Picasa album. 

We finished our downtown excursion walking around the Demonbreun St and hear some great music floating out of all of the bars.  Very much like Beale St if you’ve been there just country instead of blues.  I was also amazed at all of the recording studios we drove past.  It’s no wonder they call it Music Row!

Because of terrible traffic on our way back to the hotel we decided not to head back to the west side of town for dinner as we orignally planned and stayed near the hotel.  We went to Ellendale’s a really sweet little restaurant.  They have a garden and grow all of their produce fresh on site.  The bruchetta was fabulous and I’m still trying to mimic it.  A jazz couple serenaded us with all the classic love songs.  It was a really wonderful night and perfect end to our trip.

We headed home Sunday morning loaded down with shopping bags just in time for Dave to catch a little sleep before heading back to work that night and get back to reality.

Our trip was so much fun and I can’t wait to go back!