Sunday, June 9, 2019 - Fried Chicken Dinner & An Out of Town Sister-fest in Joplin

Sunday, June 9, 2019 - 

I must be getting back into my normal "wake-up" routine - getting up between 5 and 5:30.  I really do like it.  I've noticed that I do not seem to be as tired as I have been the past month or so.  Not sure why that is, but I do enjoy having some energy left at the end of the day.   

I spent part of the morning going through my emails and trying to catch up on some blogs.  It's been hard to keep up with everyone and I really miss hearing what everyone is doing. 

Dean and I didn't walk this morning although we probably should have.  It was overcast so it would have been a nice time to do it.  After breakfast and getting the dishes done, Dean wanted a haircut.  I don't mind cutting his hair, but I'm never really satisfied with the outcome.  I feel like it needs to be thinned a little more but not sure how to do it without really messing things up.  I already know from past experience, it's not a mistake I want to make again!  I accidentally cut a swath out of the bottom in the back when I didn't get the guard on good - it might not have been so bad - but it was the evening of Heath's wedding reception - and he was the best man, so he was kind of in the spotlight.  I called Marla in a panic, begging her to please see if she could do anything to make it look any better.  Yes, it was really much shorter than he ever had his hair - but I thought she did a great job.  When we arrived at the venue for the reception, his youngest son Jarred said, "Dad what happened to your hair?"  He was already upset -- that didn't help!!!  We laugh about it now, but that night it was not a funny moment!

Sunday is when I change sheets, so I got those washed.  They are already hanging up to dry in the bathroom since it's iffy about rain.  

Shortly before 10, we had a bit of a "sprinkle".  I really thought with the first few drops we might get something bigger, but it just teased us.  Dean decided to head to the garage.  He is really enjoying working and cleaning up in the yard.  He's been looking at tractors, but I doubt one will be in our future for awhile.  There is a lot he could do with one - but it might be better to wait until closer to the time we'll actually be doing more outside work.

About 11:30 I'm going to the Oswego Community Center to pick up our Chicken Mary chicken dinners.  I think I said Chicken Annie's in a previous post.  Yesterday I happened to notice the sign downtown said Chicken Mary's.  Mary's is my choice of the two - but they are both really good.  I'm taking one to Misti at the golf course, and then one to Haleigh at home.  I'll eat part of mine before I leave to spend the afternoon with my sisters, and save some for tomorrow, or I'll let Dean have it.  He loves fried chicken, hot or cold!  

We left to pick up lunch about 10:15.  We drove by the lot again, just a couple of blocks out of the way.

I wish I had taken pictures when we first bought it, for a comparison to show how much work Dean has done so far.  

All of the trees had a lot of weeds and small tree growth around them.  Dean has cleared much of this from the bigger trees.  Eventually, it is going to be a beautiful lot, and he's making progress already.  One thing we really enjoyed at our last home, was all of the birds we were able to see.  I think this area will be as good, and most likely even better with all of the wooded area around us.  Dean has seen deer prints in the yard too.

I picked up four-3pc chicken dinners, and desserts (various cookies).  We dropped one off for Haleigh and Isaiah.  Misti had me give them a piece of chicken from hers so they'd each have two pieces.  Then we drove to the Golf Course where Misti is working today, to drop hers off.  I wanted to take a picture of the sign at the Golf Course - and I just happened to catch my brother-in-law Elmer putting on #9.  

That guy in the background is brother-in-law Elmer.

Sister Crystal switched today with Cindy for our weekly Sister-fest, since she will have her grandson next weekend.  She suggested we go to Joplin and see our stepdad Larry and his wife Verna.  Cindy, Crystal and I are going.  Jody is helping her daughter Amy with a project this afternoon.  Crystal picked me up first, and told me that Cindy's daughter Nikki was also going with us.  We enjoy having our nieces/daughters join us when they can.

Of course we had snacks.  Well, I guess I'm going to have to make a new rule!  Don't eat sweets in front of me or at least only have one sweet and not three!  Lol!  Yes, I tasted every single one of them, but they were small portions.  I do really good at home - we don't keep many sweets around, but when it's laid out and offered like that - man do I have a weakness for those sweets!  We had a great visit with Larry & Verna and the time whizzed by.  We returned home around 4:30.  

When Crystal pulled up to our site, Dean was sitting outside, under the awning, looking at his phone.  He pulled my chair out, while we visited outside for awhile.  What a beautiful late afternoon.  Perfect weather.  It wasn't long and he was getting hungry.  "Do you know what would be really good with left over fried chicken"?, he asked.  "No", I said.  "Potato chips, good old Lay's potato chips."  So what does a good wife do?  She goes to the store and buys Lay's potato chips!  None for me, because I can't eat just one!! 

As I was leaving the grocery, friends Troy and Glenda walked in, and I had the opportunity to visit with them for a few minutes.  Troy worked for the City Sanitation Department.  He's a great guy. Now that he is retired, he picks up metal to take to the recycling center.  He's been a big help to Dean and I over the years, especially when we sold the house, and more recently as Dean was cleaning out the new garage.  There were several things we wanted to get rid of and he carted them all off for us.  

I guess I'm going to have to tie a string around my finger so I will remember to take pictures for the blog.  I could have taken a picture of Larry & Verna, a selfie with all of us together, as well as one of the four of us after we picked up Nikki (once we were in the car) to include in the blog.  I always think of pictures when it's too late to take them unless it's scenery or someplace we are visiting that is really interesting.  My phone is always with me - why can't I remember?  

The rest of this month is going to be busy, busy, busy!  We are moving to Branson this Thursday.  Next week we will travel to Garnett, KS to spend a week with Dean's family.  We plan on heading northwest around July 9th.

I decided to call a friend to see about meeting up while we are in Garnett.  Janie & Donnie live in the Kansas City area now, so the plan would be to meet for lunch or dinner, but somewhere we could set an visit for awhile.  It will require us staying in Garnett for another night, but that works for us.  As Dean and I set here discussing it, I wondered if we could just move Bentley to an RV Park somewhere south of Kansas City, that would be closer to their house.  I found a park just south of Louisburg - only 40 miles from their home.  That works perfect; so I'll call tomorrow and see if we can reserve a spot.  We've had so many great times with these two - there's always lots of laughing going on, so we look forward to spending time with them again.

I hope your day has been wonderful.  We are so thankful for the beautiful weather we've had this past week.  I hope you are able to enjoy it wherever you are too!