An Interrupted Nap

My cell phone rang today when I was taking my carb-induced Sunday nap… it was an unknown number and I considered not answering it.  I went ahead and (sleepily) answered, and heard this southern voice on the other end saying, “I’m SO disappointed your not playing tennis in Flippin today!!”  I was like WHAT? And then explained that we were going to play when Jodi got back from her sister’s and then asked, “Who is this?” She says, “Becky”.  I said, “Becky H…” (a girl I know)… and she says “Looking through the Eyes of Luv, Becky”.

I thought she was teasing me, and she kept insisting that her and Alvin were, sure enough, in Flippin.  I got so excited and told her to park it and I would come meet them.

So, I asked Dave if he wanted to go with me and he said, “Sure!”

It was so fun and so natural meeting both Becky and Alvin.  I’ve talked with her on the phone a couple of times before, but meeting her was just a blast.  She is just as fun in person as she is on her blog. 

And cute as a button!!

(Sorry about the sweats, I just woke up, remember!)

Just before they had to go, Jodi came by with her Chihuahua, Ava.

Becky is my first blog friend that I’ve been able to meet in “real life”… and if this is any indication of how fun it is, I want to meet all of you!!

Seriously, Alvin and Becky better be glad we don’t live in Newport, we’d be at their house all the time!!  Thanks for calling me, Bec.  (It would’ve been SO funny if you’d have found us at the park like you planned. Ha!)

Hay Season

Last Sunday afternoon, I went to visit Ms. Charlsie.  We’ve been having SUCH beautiful weather here, so we decided to sit out on her front porch for a while and watch the neighbors working in the hay field just across the dirt road.

I grew up in the city, but this city girl loves hay season!!  Of course, I don’t have to actually work the hay, but there’s just something about the sight of newly baled hay sitting in a field and oh.my.gosh the SMELL of fresh cut hay that I just love.  It’s one of the things I love about living in the country.

While I’ve seen hay being baled and hauled before, I was so intrigued and impressed with how efficient they were at it.  I took a few pictures…

You can’t tell very well, but they spiked those huge square bales two at a time and stacked them on the truck til it was loaded front to back in two layers.  He was SO good at it.  I could’ve watched all day long.

Soon, we’ll be enjoying the town streets decorated with hay, and pumpkins, and all things fall.  I can’t wait.

What do you love about where you live?

They’re Engaged!

Kale asked Kayla to marry him tonight!! And she said, “YES”!  We already love Kayla like she’s our own… so, it will be such a blessing to actually get to call her our daughter-in-law. 

There’s a lot of changes going on in Kale’s life right now… he started his final semester in college this week, his job will be moving him after he graduates in December, and now it looks like they’ll be getting married in November.  How exciting, and we couldn’t be happier for them!

Busy, Busy

I haven’t blogged in forever.  Life just seems to whiz on by… here’s what I’ve been up to lately.

• We’re preparing to start our 4th year of Awana at church in less than 2 weeks and there’s lots to get done!!
• I’m training three nights a week and going to tennis lessons one night a week (and LOVING them!).
• Laundry, dishes, grocery shopping, yada yada.
• And in our spare time, we’ve been playing tennis, tennis and more tennis.
• For those of you who don’t read my fitness journal, I’ve been struggling with a slow gain for the past several years.  At the first of this year, I decided to keep an online journal to try to motivate myself as well as have a place to hold myself accountable.  From the first of the year til my vacation at the end of May, I was down about 5 pounds.  When I got back from vacation, I had gained back those 5 pounds.  I decided I needed to do SOMETHING different.  So, I began to track my typical style of eating (mostly Body For Life) into Weight Watcher points.  The first week I lost 3.5 pounds.  I was amazed.  As of today, 11 weeks later, I’m down 13 pounds and back in the 120s.  Makes me happy.
• Kale starts his last semester in college tomorrow.  It seems like just yesterday he left “the nest” and me in tears on the way home.  For those of you just dropping your child off at college… I can’t tell you enough how sweet these years have been in our relationship.  Having adult children is great!
• Keeping caught up with “Big Brother”… who are y’all rootin’ for?

As you can see, not much to blog about… just living my every day life and staying busy.

Need a New Heart Rate Monitor?

My friend, Amy, over at Chapters, is doing a giveaway for a Polar F6 Heart Rate Monitor (I’m needing a new one, by the way).  Amy and her husband, Dusty, have started a new business that, as a trainer, I think is so exciting.  It’s called “FitLab”, to visit their website click here.  They do metabolic assessments.  The concept is to do tests to give the client the tools he/she needs to have success in their fitness and weight loss efforts.  The tests evaluate how many calories a person needs to eat as well as what heart rate you should be working at to achieve your goals. VERY interesting stuff!!

They also have a Twitter account with some great fitness suggestions, tips, nutrition facts, etc.  You can follow them by clicking the button below.

They are located in Peach Tree, Georgia, but Amy does some testing away from home, so if you’re interested, contact Amy for more information.

And just look how cute those Heart Rate Monitors are!!

Fun weekend

We had another FUN weekend.  Kale and Kayla surprised us by coming in a little early… they’d plan to come Friday and came on Thursday evening instead!! So happy about that.  Kayla and I went shopping on Friday and Friday night they joined us and the Howards and the Goodwins for “tennis at the park”, of course!  Kale looked like he’d been playing for years, but he hasn’t played since we tried our hand at it when he was in about the 3rd grade.  I think they may get a couple of rackets themselves… it was so much fun!

Saturday, Kayla and I went to Little Rock.  I had a hair appointment with a “curl specialist”.  Long way to drive (3.5 hours) and my expectations were HIGH.  But, to be totally honest, it was just okay.  No offense to the guy who cut/trimmed it, but I didn’t walk away with the best curls I’ve ever had.  That was my hope.

We had a fun day anyway, even though I got lost once and was impatiently passing cars another time and missed my exit.  We ate in Conway at Market Place (yum!). After we got home, we gave ourselves pedicures.  Kayla is so fun to be with and we have so much in common.  No one ever told me how fun having a girl would be!!

We went to visit Ms. Charlsie today… she’s always happy to see Kale when he comes in.

They had to leave this afternoon, and for some reason, it’s getting harder for me again when they have to leave.

We’re back to a quiet house, but the week ahead looks busy again.  And, in our spare time… we’ve always got tennis!