Winter Picnics

Fun Times

2008-05-29T07:10:00.000-07:00

The husband and I had a wonderful time at the Greenbrier River over Memorial Day weekend. It was nice spending time with the parents, plus we got to do a lot of outdoorsy stuff. We rode our bikes along the Greenbrier River Trail, we went on a canoe trip down the Greenbrier river, did a few hikes and at night we sat by the fire and made smores. Good Times. We also saw a bear! Yes, a bear. I have seen black bears when I was younger rumbling through our garbage, but they were always far far away and I was always safe in my little house. I saw this one out in the wild, just roaming around. Just to show you how brave I am, here is how the conversation went when we spotted the bear:

Mom: Oh, A, look there is a bear, I think it is a cub

Husband: Cool, where is my camera?

Dad: Wow, never seen one so close

Me: Holy Shit, let’s get back to the car. RUN RUN RUN

The scariest thing was the bear was a cub and we did not see its mother. Granted, I’m sure she was around, but I didn’t really want to meet her. Also, I always made fun of the people that would stop their cars when they saw deer to take pictures. It is just a deer, folks! Yet, here I was with my family, standing looking at a bear. Well, my family was looking, I was running like the wind! ( I will post pictures later)

Enough about that, on to the next:

This week is my boss’s last week. She has taken a “less-stressful” job. Meaning she is getting out while the gettin' good. Tomorrow, we are meeting at one of my co-workers house to have a little party and say goodbye. I hate these things! I haven’t had “good friends” at work in a long time. They have moved (yes, you should feel guilty) or left for other jobs. So, I get to go be fake nice to people for an hour or so. I changed jobs last fall and my new department has lots of older people in it. Not that there is anything wrong with that except for the fact that: 1.) I don’t get their jokes. 2) We have absolutely nothing in common 3.) They were all born and bred in this town which also tends to be an issue for me. 4) They think the thing I have been hired to do is pointless and a competitor. Yeah, that pesky internet thing is just a fad. Argh! I try to be friendly and nice, but I find myself making mean comments about them in my head. Also, I have to bake/cook something, which I’m not good at…however I am making my mom’s PB pie. It is easy and yummy. Here is the recipe:

Peanut Butter Pie

1 large cool whip
3 T peanut butter
1 3oz pkg cream cheese (softened to room temp)
1 c powdered sugar
1 t vanilla
1 graham cracker or Oreo or butter cookie pie crust
Mix 3 tablespoons peanut butter, cream cheese, powdered sugar, and vanilla together. Add cool whip and mix well. Put into pie crust and refrigerate.

Oh well, wish me luck on Friday…at least I get to meet my sister afterwards and go watch Sex and the City. I’m dying to know what is going on with Carrie and Big.

2008-05-22T07:36:00.000-07:00

Today is my Friday!!!!

I’m so excited that C and I are going to WV tomorrow to spend the long weekend with the parental unit. Here is where we are going.

I think I’m even more excited that I don’t have to go to work. Work has been a little blah lately and I find myself questioning if I’m on the right “career path”. On really bad days, I do “competitive research” (wink wink) on local job boards and other media websites. Enough about the job…on to this weekend. Here is how I see this weekend going:

C and I will hike and bike and gorge ourselves on my mom’s cooking

My dad will take care of our dog that he obsessively loves

My mom and I will talk about my sister and her upcoming wedding

My mom will then get stressed out and depressed about my sister’s upcoming wedding

I will then suggest, let’s make bloody mary’s! All is right with the world again.

My husband and my dad will walk about the property talking about what project my dad will do next

My husband will talk about projects he has going on (notice the “s” on projects…lots of projects…not one finished.)

I will convince my mom that my sister is over 30 years old and can make her own decisions and to stop worrying about us.

We will take a canoe trip down the Greenbrier River. I will flip the boat so that the hubby gets all wet and I get to laugh SUPER hard.

Hubby will spend rest of the weekend plotting revenge.

Hope you have a nice LONG weekend.

2008-05-16T11:42:00.001-07:00

This is my first blog entry…how exciting...so I thought I would do the thing that I do most often…think about the past. Particularly my childhood. I have to admit, I had a WONDERFUL childhood. Loving home, wonderful sister, not a care in the world; which is probably why when my adult life gets too “adult-like” I think back to easier times.

My favorite childhood memories always involve being outside with my parents or my grandparents. I grew up in a very small town and there was not much “man-made” fun to do. No amusement parks or Chucky-Cheese, so we made our own fun. My sister and I would spend our summer days at my Granny’s house, which was always an adventure. She literally lived on the side of a mountain. I think that is why I love to hike….even though I totally get out of breath now as opposed to when I was 10 years old. We would pack a sandwich and an empty cup. Then I would put a leash on Flip (my granny’s dog) and we would be off. The first thing on our agenda was to find an appropriate walking stick (yeah, our hikes were not that strenuous, but we sure looked cool carrying a HUGE stick). We would hike behind my great-grandmother’s old home while my granny told us stories about her childhood. We would continue walking upward while my grandmother told us what trees, plants, flowers were growing around us. We would then pass the turtle pond….which was basically a big pile of mud with lots of turtles. I thought it was the coolest thing ever that turtles had there own pond. Then we would reach our final destination, a spring of water that was nice and cold and yummy to drink (hence the empty cup). Many times our entire family would go, grandparents, parents, etc. It was wonderful. We used to crave our names on a tree that my dad and his brothers had craved their names on. My sister and I would hike further up the mountain to the ridge line and race back down to the spring. These memories are some of my favorite.

My grandmother lost her battle with cancer when I was in 7^th grade and we still hiked that same trail for a while, but it just wasn’t the same without her. The first Christmas without her was almost unbearable until my mom decided we should go on a winter picnic (something my granny would have loved). Mind you, there was probably 1-2 feet of snow on the ground, but we decided to go. We packed tomato soup in a thermos, some sandwiches, hot chocolate and went to a near by playground (we couldn’t go very far due to the icy roads). There we were bundled up beyond recognition, sitting have steamy tomato soup in the snow. IT WAS AWESOME. It is now a family tradition….every Christmas there is a winter picnic.

What are memories that make you smile?