Look At That Belly

Wendy & the kids & Jacob came up to the house on Saturday and we spent the evening hanging out, playing games, eating pizza and watching "The Surrogates" (great movie). It was so much fun. And of course Jacob just ran around playing ball the whole time so he wore himself out. I graciously loaned him my SpongeBob blanket... but I watched him closely to make sure he didn't mistreat it. He looked so cute laying there with his belly hanging out.

Happy Hour

After work today I went with a few friends to happy hour at Flame, downtown. Their basement area is called the Red Room Lounge. They've got great specials and I love going there, but that place is freaking dark. And they only use a few red lights. It takes 10 minutes before your eyes adjust and you can see the person sitting next to you. Good times though.

Stuffed Jalapeños

Tonight a friend came over and made something new for us to try. It didn't sound too good as she described it, but man were we wrong. These things were so amazing. Basically she put some ground sausage in a skillet to brown and while that was cooking she cut the jalapeños in half lengthwise and hollowed them out. Then when the sausage was done, she drained it and mixed in cream cheese and shredded cheese, filled the hollowed out peppers with the mixture, and baked them in the oven for a few minutes. They were amazing.

Chang Sha - The Best Deal Around

Tonight I was home alone and didn't feel like cooking just for myself. As hot as it is outside, standing over the stove is not my favorite thing. But chinese food IS one of my favorite things, so I got the brilliant idea of going through the drive thru at Chang Sha just down the road from my house. For $5.25 and less than a 5 minute wait, I got this huge serving of chicken fried rice, an egg roll & a crab rangoon. I love this place. They will also deliver food; Scott and I order from them quite a bit. This meal was awesome. I ate all I wanted (which was less than half) and had enough to put in the fridge for two different lunches this week. I recommend anyone close give this place a try. If you dine in, they have an amazing buffet. Sometimes they even have frog legs on it.

Lake Springfield

Even though it's too hot to do anything outside, I have been desperately wanting to play with my new zoom lens. So today after work I headed down to Lake Springfield Park to see if I could spot any photo opportunities. Unfortunately, it started raining shortly after I got there, so I only got a few shots in. It was so hot that after the rain stopped, the roads started steaming.

Food Again

Looking back through past posts, I have noticed I have quite a few pictures of food as my photo of the day. Sorry about that. It's just that sometimes I take those because I'm bragging about my food and sometimes I take those because I haven't done anything cool that day and need to take a picture of something.

This one is bragging.

Yahtzee!

After having lunch at grandma's and getting tired of the constant sweating that goes on there, I talked Wendy into inviting me over to her air conditioned house so we could visit AND enjoy it at the same time. Once we got there, a vicious game of Yahtzee broke out and fun was had by all... except for Emma who was losing. It's a good thing Kyle had drawn a giant "L" on her forehead earlier that day for losing a bet. It fit in nicely with our game.

Girl's Night Out

What's better than dinner and a movie? Dinner and a movie with your mom, your sister-in-law and your niece. The four of us decided to have a girls night while the men were all gone to the tractor pulls. So we loaded up and headed down to Mimi's Cafe in Rogers at Pinnacle Hills where we had a good time and an okay meal served by a crappy waiter. Then we headed over to the Malco 12 and watched Grownups, which was absolutely hilarious. We ate a huge tub of popcorn and enjoyed each others company all night.

Earlier today, I went with mom and dad on one of our epic afternoon drives. I grew up going on drives and love them so much. Since my parents are the only weirdos I know who do this sort of thing, I always make them take me when I'm around. We started out going down just to the east of Fayetteville, Arkansas because there is a lawn mower repair shop out that direction that dad needed a part from. And from there we just started driving. For more details and pictures, check my other blog: Rosey's Ramblings.

I Am So Glad I Don't Live Closer To Oklahoma

Yep, another casino. I went down Friday after work to visit with my parents and spend the night and after dinner Mom and I convinced ourselves to head down to Cherokee Casino in West Siloam Springs, Oklahoma. I have such an addictive personality when it comes to casino's. I have a hard time leaving. Luckily, I am smart enough to only take in a fairly small amount of money ($60 or so) and I only play penny slots. And I do seem to come out $30 or $40 ahead most of the time. But sometimes, like tonight, I lose it all. I am so glad there are no casino's closer to me. I would have a really hard time not going once a week or so.

In Training

I am almost done with my 3rd week of training at my new job. And after 3 weeks of getting up at the butt crack of dawn and sitting in a chair all day staring at a projector screen, I sometimes have a problem staying awake in class. Most of us do. Today was actually not too bad for me, but Charlie couldn't keep his eyes open. He was so tired that the minute we went outside and sat down for lunch, he dropped his head and dozed right off. It was actually pretty cute. The rest of us giggled about it for a long time. Then we made a pact that none of us would wake him up when lunch was over. Because we're evil like that. Unfortunately, he woke up on his own several minutes later.

Bird Bath

A fast moving, summer storm (you know, the kind where the sun is shining but it's raining cats & dogs) hit yesterday afternoon right as I was going to the library and WalMart. Not wanting to get out of the car in the rain, I took a few side streets and did some sight seeing around town while I waited for the rain to quit. It only rained for about 15 minutes, so after it stopped I headed back towards the library. On the way I spotted some birds cleaning themselves off in a puddle. It was so cute and thanks to my new lens I can actually get better shots like this. This bird was cracking me up. He kept splashing around and shaking, then he'd hop out of the puddle and smooth his feathers back down just to jump back in the puddle and start over. It's so cute to see how ruffled his feathers become.

Big Dog, Little Dog

We had a couple of canine visitors at the house last night. Zeus is the huge doberman and Lola is the little puggle. It was funny to see how little Lola would growl and snap at the humongous Zeus because he had the bone she wanted. And Zeus was so good-natured. He'd just switch bones.

Houseguest

After our St. Louis trip Krystle is staying at the house with us for a few days. I think we're probably boring her to death, but it's kinda neat having her hanging around.

Leaving St. Louis

Well the weekend of GaGa is over. We must leave St. Louis and it's funky buildings. So sad.

GaGa!!

Need I say more? No.

These pictures suck and I am so upset about it. See, I'm a person who normally plays by the rules. So when the concert tickets said "no cameras or recording devices allowed" I took that to mean that I shouldn't bring my camera. So I didn't. Even though I had brought my little point & shoot just for this purpose. I left it at James' house like a good little law-abiding girl. Then we get to the concert and there are cameras everywhere. Of course. And they let them all carry them in. Of course. And while she was on stage, Lady GaGa encouraged everyone to take pictures. Of course. I only had the droid. Which takes great pictures when you're standing in front of something in the daylight. But concert photos? Not so much.

Here's what I got.

1. Ticket
2. Me, James & Krystle in front of the bus
3. Crazy, dressed up fans
4. Tiny Lady GaGa dot on stage, face on big screen. *The camera is making this look smaller than it was, we could totally see better than this.

Back To St. Louie

Well, here I am again in St. Louis. I was just here last month, but I'm glad to be back. I love visiting here. Such a cool city. This time I brought along my cousin Krystle because her, James, Travis and I all have tickets to see Lady GaGa tomorrow night. SO FREAKING EXCITED! To entertain us tonight, James and Travis took us to play in Forest Park, downtown to the arch and then we crossed over into Illinois to eat at Lotawata Creek. Good food, but way too much. Lol. Here's a few pics I took today.

1. Looking off James' back porch (taken with Droid using the camera app Vignette, which I highly recommend)
2. Random statue in Forest Park (taken with Droid again)
3. Driving by Bush Stadium while the Cards play the Dodgers
4. The arch at night when they don't have the freaking lights on it for some reason.
5. James & Krystle at base of arch

Oh The Joy Of An Xbox

The guys discovered a downloadable indie game called Baby Maker Extreme. It kept them entertained for so long. But finally they grew bored and switched over to the The Deadliest Warrior fighting game. Guys will be guys.

It's Bananas!

Why do bananas go bad so quickly? Scott just bought these. Grrrrrrr.

Mercy Mocha And A Camera Lens

Today I got a Mercy Mocha, Mars Bar flavored frozen coffee. This is from the gourmet coffee shop located inside St. John's hospital. I used to work at the hospital and had these several times a week. It was so bad for me but I loved it so much. This is the first one I've had since March. And it was delicious.

In other news, my buddy Kris has a passion for photography. One of many reasons why I like him. And he really knows his stuff. His equipment is at a higher level than mine right now, but he knows what it's like to use the starter stuff. In fact, he knows it so well that he knows what kind of lens my camera needs. Which turned out to be really handy because while looking on Craigslist for a new lens for himself, he happened to find a guy who had 2 lenses for sale - one that Kris wanted for his camera and one that would work beautifully with mine. The price was amazing, but you had to buy both lenses. So Kris thought of me and messaged me to see if I'd be interested in splitting the deal with him. And I totally was.

Today I met with Kris and picked up my new lens. It's a 55 - 200. The only lens I have had up until now is an 18 - 55. So now I can zoom in SO much more. It's so cool. I love this lens already. Thanks so much Kris for catching a good ad and thinking of me.

Here's a pic with my old lens and then one with the new lens from the same spot. I'm gonna use the hell out of this lens.

Kitty Cave

Over the weekend Scott got bored. I guess. Either that or he had about 3 minutes worth of creative juices flowing. Point is... we now have this in our living room. And the kitteh has approved.

Stupid Storm

Today I went to Lisa and Larry's to visit with them. After they fed me a delicious lunch of steak kabobs, Larry came up with the idea of going to Joplin. Sounded good to me, so we hopped into their car (which they neglected to tell me had no AC) and headed down I-44. Little did we know... a storm was brewing.

Dun dun dun.

I don't know why I'm being dramatic. Rest of the story is - we were at Downstream Casino, I was up $30, life was good. Then Larry got a weather alert that there was a tornado warning in the area of their house. So we cashed out and headed home. Now if you think it must have sucked to ride in a car with no AC on the interstate all the way down there, you should try coming back when it's raining so hard you can't see the road, you can't roll the windows down and every piece of glass is fogged over. THAT was a fun ride. But we made it safely, the tornado warning was cancelled with nothing happening. And when I got back to my house I was able to get a pic of some lightening.

In A Cage

My car did not leave the garage today. And it bitched about it the entire time. Nothing worse than a crybaby car.

My First Martini

This is a white chocolate martini. It's the first martini I've ever had. It was yummy. A bit stronger than I expected, but I chose to ignore that. I ordered it because Scott was drinking one and wouldn't shut up about how good it was and how much I'd like it. He was right, but don't tell him that. It's a bad picture. I apologize for that. You can barely tell that the bartender drew a star in the foam. Normally my cell phone takes better pics than this, but I blame it on the fact that I've never been in a bar darker than this one. I was in the basement of Flame. And it's pitch black down there. Seriously, the only lighting they have is red. It's awesome and scary all at the same time.

I have always heard amazing things about Flame, but had never been there before. But today was the end of the first week of work for me and a small group of friends. It's still so surreal that so much of the old group is back together at a new company. That doesn't happen very often. So a few of us decided to celebrate and go to Happy Hour. It was great and I am hoping we develop a habit of doing this at least twice a month. Drinks were half price, their chopped steak burgers were only $3.50. I fell in love with the place. You guys should all be jealous.

Worn Out

Strange as it sounds, I am so worn out from my 3 days at work. Something about getting up at 5:00 am and sitting in a chair all day listening to someone talk while watching a slideshow in a darkened room is really starting to get to me. Takara (Tuh-car-uh) looks worn out too. Or maybe the stuffed mouse just kicked her ass. I'm not sure.

I Love Office Supplies And Homework

Day two at my new job and we have been given binders and tabbed dividers to help organize our training documentation. I am so excited I'm practically squealing with delight. I happen to be a total dork and I LOVE office / school supplies. It's a real struggle for me not to constantly buy notebooks and pens and binders and rulers and glue and... well you get the picture. Of course I also love homework and studying and learning new things. So this 8 week training program is right up my alley.

Side note - today is my cousin Sabrina's b-day. Love you Brina!

Christmas In July?

Driving home from work today I spotted a Santa sleigh parked in a driveway and it tripped me out so much, I had to turn around and get a pic of it. It just cracked me up. I wonder if he's repairing it? Or maybe it stays in the garage but he's moved it outside to clean out the garage? Or does it simply sit out in front of his house all year long waiting for Christmas? I'm dying to know the answer here. But even though I enjoyed stumbling across this funny sight, do you know what my favorite part of this whole thing is? I'M DRIVING HOME FROM WORK TODAY. Woot!

Today was my first day on the job with Expedia.com and it was such a great day. Several of my friends and former co-workers got hired here too so there were no first-day jitters at all. I already knew people so I didn't have to worry about who I was gonna follow to break or eat lunch with. Also we are starting a new office here in town, so all of us are new at the same time. I don't have to worry if I'm catching on quick enough because no one knows what they're doing anyway. It's so amazing to start a new job and have no nervousness at all. I am so excited for the opportunity I have been given here.

Return Of Da Baby

I just got Jacob out of the bath. Doesn't he look so fresh? so clean? Oh snap, now I've gone and done it.

Happy 4th

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday. I spent the night trying to take awesome pictures of fireworks and instead ended up getting only 1 decent shot. Oh well, I'll try it again next year.

Small Bonfire

Angie and Tim hosted a little 4th of July get-together tonight and after we were treated to a really good fireworks show, Tim decided to light the bonfire. I hadn't even noticed the brush pile he had gathered up, because he had wisely placed it far away from where we were sitting. Once I watched where he was headed I noticed how huge the pile was. When Tim wants a bonfire, he doesn't mess around.

Full Day Friday

My day started off bright and early at 6:30 am. Which sucks after not working for 3 months. But my Mom was coming up to do some garage saleing (new word I just made up) with me and she had decided she wanted to leave my house at 7:00 am. So I popped out of bed early and when she rang the doorbell we took off in search of bargains. We hit a few sales then decided it was time for breakfast so we ate at Perkins. From there we hit a few more sales. Sometime during these sales I had called the unemployment office about 2 denied claims and they pretty much told me that it sucks to be me and I'm just not getting the money for those 2 weeks. Damn. More garage sales, a little bit of driving around looking at scenery, then time for Mom to head home. Good day with Mom. Also, I bought a brand new looking wok for $3 at one sale.

Later in the evening Wendy, Sabrina, Todd and I loaded up and headed downtown for the First Friday Art Walk. It was so cool. We got to take a tour of the Gillioz Theater, we got to check out a loft on the square next to Trolley's, we had dinner at Springfield Brewing Company, we walked through shops and checked out art, watched a glass blowing demonstration. Great night with great people. Only complaint I have is that Mudhouse was so packed full I didn't get a drink. But I'll live.

Wendy's Birthday

Today is Wendy's birthday and I surprised her with a trip to Mansfield to see the home of Laura Ingalls Wilder. Like most people our age, Wendy was obsessed with "Little House on the Prairie" as a child and had mentioned before how badly she wanted to be able to visit the historic site where Laura and Almanzo settled in Missouri. It's a really cool little road trip and the tickets for the museum and guided tour and entry into both houses they lived in is only $8 for adults.
It was amazing seeing all of the hand written notes, old photos, hand-made dresses, etc. They even have Pa's fiddle on display. There is so much stuff to see I can't even describe it all. It's interesting to see pictures of the real Ingalls family when you have Michael Landon and Melissa Gilbert pictured instead.
Wendy enjoyed learning that Laura was extremely short and never even reached 5 ft tall as an adult. There are so few adults that Wendy is taller than, she really gets excited. Walking through the houses and seeing furniture that Almanzo made and items that were mentioned in her stories was amazing. We even got to see the desk Laura sat at while writing some of the Little House books. If you ever get the chance, I highly recommend checking this out.

The saddest part is when you realize that Laura, Almanzo, and their daughter Rose Wilder Lane are actually buried in the Mansfield Cemetery and you go rushing over there to see their graves only to realize that since they had no other family in this area and their bloodline did not continue, no one decorates their graves. Laura and Almanzo have a double headstone and Rose is buried right next to them. The headstones are pretty and the area surrounding the three graves has been marked off to draw attention to them. But there are no flowers or any decorations at all. All around the entire cemetery you see flowers everywhere; but the Wilder family, despite their fame and celebrity, remain unadorned. This is actually the second time I've visited their graves in the past year and it has been this way both times now. Something about that really bothers me. I can't believe no one is there who will pay this family respect. Makes me wanna drive back out there with some flowers.


On a happier note, after we got back from our Mansfield trip we took the twins to Hollywood Theater to see "The Twilight Saga: Eclipse". It was MUCH better than the first 2 Twilight movies. See, I have read all 4 books. Read them before any movies were made. So I was highly disappointed in the first movie. It skipped around so much and was hard to follow. It left out huge chunks of the book and the characters were 10x more emo on-screen than they are in the book. The 2nd movie, "New Moon" was a tiny bit better, but I still didn't care for it. Fortunately the 3rd installment, "Eclipse" is a HUGE improvement. Followed the book really well, characters were allowed to be happy for a few minutes (less emo), really well shot and directed. Now I'm excited to see the 4th.