Yeah, I Want Some Cheesy Poofs

For the record, it took 9 days for this massive amount of cheese balls to be eaten. They took a big hit at my birthday bbq last week. Then Scott ate most of the rest. Lol. Thank goodness they're all gone, they are so hard to resist.

Weird Sight

Nothing really exciting to talk about today. Went to work. Worked. Came home. Ate leftovers and watched Grey's Anatomy, Glee & some True Blood. But I did get behind this on the way home from work and kept getting leaves blown on me. Thought it was an unusual sight because of the vines and bushes growing up, around and out of it.

The Things Are Ginormous

Last weekend I came home from Seligman with a Walmart bag of home grown sweet potatoes fresh out of Dad's garden. I hadn't even looked at them yet, but decided I really wanted some mashed sweet potatoes for dinner tonight so I broke them out. These freaking things were huge. Seriously I only had to use one to have dinner for two and leftovers.

OMG, It's Never-ending

Seriously, cool shit apparently happens all the time at airports. Even a little tiny airport.

A Rare Glimpse

I was having a good hair day so I thought I'd show you guys.

My Brother, The Dog Whisperer

The Henderson family reunion was today and since I hadn't been to one in SEVERAL years, I decided to tag along with Mom & Dad. Chuck and the kids followed behind us and we took off down the road for Snowdale State Park in Pryor, Oklahoma. It's a pretty little area right on the lake and we had a decent number of relatives show up. They all brought lots of yummy food so that was a bonus. One of my distant cousins had a couple of dogs with him who liked to play fetch and after we ate Chuck decided he'd throw the stick a few times. It didn't take him long to discover that you have to have 2 sticks to play fetch with this dog because he won't turn loose of one until you throw another one.

After we left the reunion, I spent the night with Chuck & Ruthie and the kids. It was a good family day.

Friday Night Football

Cassville's homecoming game was tonight and since they're on their way to another state championship I decided to go down and watch some action. Unfortunately, they're so good that the games aren't even fun to watch. Cassville was up 35-0 at the end of the first half and after halftime they took the starters out so the other team had a little bit of a chance. I ended up leaving during the 3rd quarter just to beat some traffic and get out of the wind. But I had a good time and got to cheer for Kyle as he made several touchdowns.

Bowling

Tonight is our 4th week of bowling and surprisingly, I am improving. My average has gone up 4 points already and I keep consistently getting higher scores. By the end of the league I may actually be decent. The pic is of my friend and team captain, Larry. He broke a toe several weeks ago and can't do any approach or slide. So this is his 3rd week bowling with pure arm strength. I'm pretty sure I'd be a wuss and just not bowl until my toe healed.

DinoMat is finally here!

A month or so ago (? I can't really remember how long) I won a poetry contest. Go me. It wasn't like a huge contest, but I am honored I won. It was hosted by a friend of mine, Alas, on her World Of Warcraft blog Kiss My Alas and the rules were: the poem must be about her beloved (by everyone but her it seems) dino pet DinoTam. This is her pet in game, of course.

Anyway, the winner was promised this smashing stuffed dino and the winner was me! Yay. It was finally delivered to me tonight when Azzah came over to the house to visit.

Birthday BBQ

Somehow, we are still celebrating my birthday... and I'm not complaining. Tonight Scott hosted a BBQ at the house for our Springfield (and area) friends & family. We ate good food, enjoyed the back yard until it got dark and then went inside where two separate games broke out - Jungle Speed on the kitchen table and Dutch Blitz in the living room floor. Oh, and we pigged out on cake & cookies. Yum.

Evil Robot Kitty

I needed to mop the kitchen floor tonight so all the chairs got moved into the living room temporarily. For some reason, this really excited Takara. She played on those chairs like they were a jungle gym; jumping from chair to chair, climbing up the backs, attacking the chair legs, etc. I grabbed my camera to take a few quick pictures and that's when she released Evil Robot Kitty on me. Apparently I was a distraction to her while she was playing.

First she gave me the laser eyes:



Then she tried to hypnotize me:



Finally she just gave up and started being cute again:

Fire!

Yesterday's photo came from the side of the road while avoiding the town of Monett. Strangely enough, I took this picture on the same stretch of road on my way home today. It's really not super exciting, just a guy burning off his field. But he had it lit all the way across and it was such a wide path of burning it was really putting off quite a cloud of smoke. I had watched the smoke for several miles and once I realized I was going to pass right by it, I decided it had to be my picture.

Horses

I am constantly spotting photographic moments while driving, but rarely get the chance to stop and take a photo. I am either on a tight schedule, there is too much traffic, I don't see it in time to stop safely, etc. But today the conditions were just right and while I was taking my usual shortcut around Monett, I got the chance to pull over and take a pretty photo.

This Is Even Cooler

Today, for some reason, a HUMONGOUSLY GINORMOUS airplane visited the area. I mean, it was way bigger than anything that's normally here. I took several photos to show the size.

This one shows the size of it framed in the window. Compare it to this picture.


Here it's compared to the size of a private plan that just took off.


Here it is taxiing down the runway behind one of the normally big airplanes we see.


And finally, a picture of lift off.

Get To The Chopper

Okay, I've gone quite a few days without posting any pictures of flying machines so it should be okay for me to post just this one. It's a really cool one.

Beautiful Birthday Day

Today is my birthday. Thank you to everyone for all the birthday wishes. They brought in a cake for me at work and everyone signed a card. I had a great day. It did come a gullywasher (hillbilly term)just seconds after I got in my car to leave work, but I didn't mind. It gave me a chance to photograph this cool storm cloud. We had torrential rain for about 20 minutes but then it cleared back up. At 6:00 I met up with Jordi, Kim & Sidney, Jamie, and Scott & Izzy at HuHot and had a great meal.

My Car Has The Cancer

Ignore the whatever-that-is crap that is splattered on the glass there and bring your attention to the check engine light that tells me my poor baby is sick. Actually, I can't decide if my car has the lung cancer or just a severe sinus infection. Either way it has something to do with the catalyst efficiency system, which is the air system, which is why I think it's related to the lungs or breathing in some way. Poor little guy has been sick for a few weeks but I'm just now starting to see how his liquid intake has began rapidly increasing (burning gas like crazy these days) and it's starting to impact my checkbook. So, I've made an appointment for Sept. 24th to get the issue fixed. Sure wish there was a co-pay like there is on my human insurance, but alas, there is not.

*I actually haven't decided whether my car is a boy or a girl, even though I referred to it as a boy in this post. Anyone out there good at determining the sex of a Pontiac Torrent?

Another Reason I Hate Our Cat

Takara (tuh-car-uh) is technically Scott's cat because he decided he wanted a kitty and he brought her home. But because we are roommates and the kitty lives equally with both of us, I consider her to be mine too. And I hate her. Not really, but really. Mostly because she's so pretty and petite and playful and I just wanna hug her and pet her and squeeze her and call her George and she doesn't like me at all. It' so frustrating. Part of it is because since I'm the unofficial woman of the house and do all the cleaning, I am the one that has to yell at her when I find her walking across kitchen counters or up on the table. So she's actually a bit scared of me.

She's a pretty timid cat anyway, does not like company coming over at all, and any sudden movements by me will make her turn tail and run. She doesn't like to be held and will scramble to jump down instantly. She will lay on my lap occasionally, but as soon as Scott appears on the scene she runs to him immediately. When I walk by and find her curled up somewhere and looking cute, I bend down to pet her precious head and she bolts. If she is passing through the living room and I coincidentally start to get up out of my chair, she bolts. If I am coming out of my bedroom in the morning and she happens to be in the hallway, she bolts.

Her relationship with Scott, on the other hand, is awesome. She follows him around like a puppy dog. He can pick her up and hold her in one hand or squeeze her against his chest in a tight hug and she's content either way. No matter where she's at in the house, the minute she hears his voice she comes running for him. She has a game she plays with him where every time he sits down in his recliner and reaches for the handle on the side of the chair to recline, she attacks his hand. It's seriously a game of hers. You can totally tell she does it on purpose. Sometimes she will hide behind the couch and jump out to get him when he reclines. Sometimes she will come dashing out of the kitchen to catch him. But she always gets him. Then while he is reclined she loves to lay at his feet on the recliner. And when she feels playful instead of sleepy she spends the entire time dashing wildly around the room but always jumping across his lap on every round. I mean the cat loves him like nothing I've ever seen. And I don't get it. He yells at her sometimes, why isn't she scared of him like she is me? I feed her sometimes, why doesn't she love me like she does him? That's why I always joke about hating her... because I'm so frustrated that I don't get any affection from her. She's a brat.

Get this - when he goes to bed at night and shuts his bedroom door, Takara will sit outside his room and cry for him. Even though I'm looking at her down the hall from the living room and frantically patting my lap while calling her, she pays no attention to me and cries for him. In the mornings I get up and go to work a few hours before Scott and I will either find her already sitting in front of his door crying, or me walking around wakes her up and after I get out of the shower I find her sitting in front of his door crying. And we've had her for over a year. Ridiculous.

The picture above is just one more reason I hate her. Tonight she decided that being at Scott's feet wasn't good enough and she's spent all evening looking cute and curled up by his side. He's trying to use his laptop and keeps moving her because she's in the way, but she just comes right back. Meanwhile, I'm across the room in my chair relentlessly begging her to come sit on my lap. Stupid cat.

My Not-Surprise Surprise Birthday Party

Today was the day of my party and a good time was had by all. Mom did an excellent job of coordinating everything and throwing a good party. She had decorations set up and all sorts of pictures of me through the years. She had even gotten all 6 of my nieces and nephews together for pictures weeks ago and printed them out and framed them for me. That doesn't sound like a big deal until you realize not all of my nieces and nephews are related to each other. Not that long of a story really, but I'm not gonna take the time to tell it. I have half-brothers and half-sisters (I HATE calling them that, but it is a fact) so therefore not everyone in my immediate family is related to each other. Only once or twice have I ever had all of my siblings or their children in the same location. It was really cool that mom arranged to get them together for pictures. And while we were all at the party I actually got a picture of me with all my siblings. That has never happened before.

September Is Super Busy

There are a lot of events in September in both my families. My mom and dad's wedding anniversary is Sept. 2, my brother Chuck and his wife's anniversary is on Sept. 5, my niece Jessica's birthday is Sept. 4th and my twin nephews, Marshall and Dillon, share my birthday on Sept. 15th. But aside from all that we also celebrate birthdays for my uncle Randy and my cousins Lori, Cindy, Max, Austin and Tyrek. I really hope I didn't leave anyone out in that list. There's just so many I don't know if I have them all memorized. Tonight we had a September Birthday hot dog roast at Grandma Beeson's house. We played games, roasted hot dogs, had some cake... but mostly we got eaten alive by gigantic mosquitoes. Anyway, here's Marshall & Dillon getting ready to blow out candles on a cake. They are 14 now (or will be on Wednesday). Crazy.

Preparations Have Begun

This coming Sunday my mom is throwing me a surprise birthday party without the surprise. It originally started out to be a surprise party like a month or so ago, but then last weekend she broke down and told me about it because it would be easier on everyone. They were having trouble coming up with a plan to get me to the location without suspecting anything. So now I know and trust me, I'm fine with that. Anyway, mom never does anything halfway so this is going to be a big production. Tonight her and Charlie started making some of the cookies which will be served. I'm hoping someone drops one so I can taste test them.

Okay, I'll Try To Stop

I promise I will take a break from posting pictures from work after this one. This is an overhead view of the Hotel System Analyst's department (my dept.). My cube is the one at the bottom right. I love the open ceilings and all the sunlight. Of course, it might be a little freaky when I get on 3rd shift and it's open ceilings and lots of darkness.

Giving You Some Perspective

Yes, I have been using the zoom on my little point & shoot camera to take my airplane pictures. But I'm not deceiving you on how close to me they are. I just use the zoom to keep the window out of the pics. Here's some proof for ya.

Okay, Back To The Airplanes

These two have been parked right next to my window every day since we moved in here. I'm guessing they're being worked on or something.

At Least It's Not An Airplane

Even though today is Labor Day... I volunteered to work. Something is wrong with my car, check engine light's been on for weeks (Catalyst System Efficiency below threshold), and I haven't quite gotten ahead on my money since spending the summer unemployed. So I chose to gain some extra money and work an 8 hour day for double-time. The place was pretty empty, only a handful of people came in, so I spent a few minutes taking some pictures of our bright shiny new workplace. This is the break room. I love how the white tables and chairs seem to glow under the skylight (although I took this pic while it was still mostly dark outside) and the fountain is so pretty. It's so cool being in this building.

Putting The Men To Work

I spent the night at Chuck and Ruthie's after Jessica's birthday party and this morning, Chuck and Charlie cooked us all a delicious breakfast of biscuits & gravy, sausage and eggs. Charlie did the eggs to perfection.

Jessica's Birthday

My little baby niece Jessica turned 14 today. How does that happen so fast?

Also, little Timmy Gray got married today and I got to see Scott trying on his tux before I headed down to Jessica's party.

Early Morning Sun

I love the way the morning sun lights up the new airport terminal. Please ignore the reflection I'm getting in the window. The lights in the office always cause a window reflection until it finally becomes sunny enough outside that the reflection disappears.

I'm afraid that when I begin working my graveyard shift, the reflection is going to prevent me from taking some cool nighttime photos of the runway.

A Little Progress

Well I've gotten a start on decorating the cube, but it's nowhere near being complete. I have decided I'm going to take advantage of the metal support beam on my right side by the window and I have already attached a small magnetized cork board to it. As long as no one tells me I'm not allowed to use the pole, I will find more cool stuff to put there.

I've decided I'm going to decorate my cube with pieces of pop culture that are favorites of mine. But, I want the items to be smallish. Like figurines under 6" or pictures no larger than postcard size. I would prefer pics out of magazines, books, etc. so I can pin them up on the walls. If anyone has anything they wanna donate to me for decorating, here's a list of things I love: Wizard of Oz, Futurama, Dr. Who, Ghostbusters (would love to have a Stay Puft Marshmallow Man), Star Wars (especially R2D2), SpongeBob, the Muppets, World of Warcraft. Or anything else you may have lying around that you think I'd love.

Yep, It's An Airplane

I wasn't joking when I said the awesomeness of watching airplanes landing and taking off all day long would take some time to wear off. You will be seeing pics of airplanes for probably weeks to come.

Later this evening, my dept. is all meeting up at Lyn's house for a potluck dinner and a chance to get to know each other better. There are 22 of us (I believe?) and 13 of us all worked together at our last job so I just think of them as old co-workers. Lol. We all hang out together quite a bit anyway. I can't wait to get to know my new coworkers better and see their families.