Where have I been? What have I been doing?

Answers: nowhere & nothing.

I have no excuses for not posting for so long. I've been here, doing the normal stuff. We've finally ordered the replacement windows for the bay and front of the house. They should be here soon. I knew we wouldn't get it done before the heat settled in, and we didn't. But....I think this is the company who said they did one window at a time, so maybe it won't be so bad. Maybe. We have seven windows to be replaced. Wonder if I could leave for the day....

In a weak moment after a couple glasses of wine, I decided to order son #1 an actual laptop for his birthday -- instead of a netbook (which I really, really want). He does a lot of writing and it will be his primary computer and....I luv him, so....I'm glad I did it. J actually insisted on it. But....have you seen the netbooks? They are so cute!

Now. I'm very excited about this. We won't be going to the coast for Christmas. Nope. We're going to the mountains! Blue Ridge, GA. I am so excited. Before Gustav sent the tree into the house, J and I had decided to try out the mountain lifestyle (because the coast is so expensive, and there are all those nasty hurricanes), but after Gustav we were so busy with the rebuild that we just forgot about it. Well....we're back on track now. (Just in time for a new hurricane season, but we won't think about that now.) I've rented a lovely cabin. The kids are excited -- much closer to NC. So....off we'll go. I'm trying not to think about how cold it will most likely be. Or....if it snows or ices over or something like that. We'll be in deep dodo if that happens. Let's just not think about that for a while. Okay?

That takes care of Christmas. We were planning on going to Raleigh for Thanksgiving to see the kids (like last year -- before the storm), but J didn't know if he'd be able to take that many days off with his new job, so I told A that, if she wouldn't be angry with me, we'd skip coming up there for Thanksgiving, and save the money for Christmas and the mountains. She seemed fine. And then.... And then she called to say they would be flying down in August to see us. I am so glad! We haven't seen them since Christmas. And....in addition to A and son #3, two of their roommates are coming. Should be fun. And, shhhh!, J doesn't know yet, but....we're going to the coast for the weekend when they come! Yep. I found a good deal, so off we'll go. In the end, J will love it. We haven't been to the beach in the summer in a while now. Of course, it's going to be HOT! The kids are so excited. We've established a comfortable coast routine: Old Time Pottery, Burris Fruit Stand, Shrimp Basket, Hope's Cheesecake. I can't wait.

And Father's Day weekend J and I are heading up to Memphis for two nights at the Peabody. This was J's idea. He came in one night and said he wanted to go to Memphis, stay at the Peabody, and see Graceland. I looked up Peabody nightly rates; told him how much they were, and he said -- maybe not. I found rates that were acceptable to him on Expedia, and....I guess we're going to Memphis in a week or so. This is J's trip. He wants to see Beale St, the Gibson guitar factory, Sun Studio, and maybe Stax records. Oh, and Graceland. I'm not really anxious to see any of it, but....I'll be a good sport. (If you remember, he doesn't know about the August trip to the coast, yet.) There is a cemetery (Elmwood) that I'd like to walk through. Does anyone else enjoy walking through cemeteries, or is it a Southern thing?

So, my travels for the rest of the year are planned. I don't know about you, but for me, the planning is stressful. Deciding where to go. How much to spend. Finding a reputable place to rent from. Finding a rental that will (hopefully) please the entire family. Whew! It takes work. But, it's done. We're going to freeze at Christmas, and burn up during August, but....

The last project that has been stealing my time is ancestry dot com. I've spent some time there and have found some interesting things about my family. Last week, I sent in a DNA sample. We'll see where that leads.

That's it for catching up. Birthdays, trip planning, and ancestor researching had stolen my time. Maybe now I can start my beading projects. Maybe.