It will probably be nice....when it's over..

Hopefully, the replacement windows for the front of the house and and the bay will be installed tomorrow. They said it usually only took a day. We'll see. I'm so bummed about it. I know it will be nice to have the new windows, but I just don't want to go through getting them. The heat has been unbelievable here and I pity the air conditioner trying to play keep-up tomorrow. Once again I'll be relegated to one part of the house, and I'm so tired of that!

Oh, well. It will probably be nice....when it's over.

We're home....

and it's still hot. But....it was every bit as hot in Memphis as it is here. whew! We had a good time and were able to do everything we'd planned. I've gotta tell you, I fell in love with Memphis' quirky coolness. Everyone we met was so polite and knowledgeable. We heard the most interesting stories from shop clerks and restaurant workers. And those tours that I wasn't too excited to take? My bad. I actually enjoyed them, and I don't usually enjoy tours. We ate well, slept well, and (except for the heat) thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.

A few words about Graceland. I found Graceland to be a very personal experience for many. If you'd asked me if I was an Elvis fan (pre-Graceland visit), I'd have said yes. But....after visiting Graceland and seeing all the different people and their reactions, I now know I barely qualify fan-wise. This may help explain: When we were finally, thank GOD! finished, I was waiting under a shade tree for J to get the car and pick me up. There was a man from Galveston, TX sharing the shade with me. He was waiting on his wife who was giving blood in exchange for a free Elvis tee shirt. By that time, that didn't even seem odd to me. I heard more foreign accents and languages at Graceland than anywhere else we visited in Memphis. The King must really be a King.

Now, for the Peabody....if you go to Memphis, stay there! I now understand how some hotels become dear to people. I find myself smiling when I think about it. And the ducks? I'll post pictures as soon as hubby downloads them. I fell in love with the ducks (or, maybe the idea of them). Hint: the love-the-ducks test meter sky rockets with a drink/glass of wine from the lovely lobby bar in the Peabody.

So, now I start planning for the Gulf Shores trip. I'm getting excited. I'll not only be seeing three of my kids, but visiting a well-loved place. And....the weather's going to good. Right? No hurricanes. Right?

I got my maternal DNA results. I'm H haplogroup. There were three or four insertions and deletions, and I'm not sure what those mean. I'm working on understanding it now -- as best I can. But, it pretty much verified that (on my mother's side) I'm pretty much British/Irish. The American Indian link that I remember my grandmother talking about didn't show up -- as far as I can tell. I need to send the results to my daughter (who is a few courses shy of being qualified to interpret DNA). But....I know what she's going to say. "Mom. I told you that most places don't test enough markers to be able to show specific results." And....she'd be correct.

Lordy, it's HOT!

I can't believe I'm saying that when it's not even July or August, but....it's freakin' HOT! But, as they tell us, at least this high pressure system that's funneling in the heat, is keeping storms out of the Gulf. There's that. After I finish this post I'm going to go take a look at the mountain cabin we rented for Christmas. You know.....you can actually buy cabins (and houses) online? I'm not sure how involved it is, but when the kids were living in MS, a realtor told them that several, several, people had bought houses in Hattiesburg, sight unseen. My impression is that most of the buyers were from California. They could probably sell their CA home, pay cash for one in MS, and maybe even pay off all or some of their bills. Not a bad idea. Wonder what J would do if he came home and I informed him that we are proud owners of a cabin in the mountains? I probably couldn't actually buy one without someone having to talk with him, and, well, I'm pretty sure he wouldn't go for it. Pretty sure.

We're headed to Memphis tomorrow. I'm looking forward to getting away. I hope it's an easy, relaxing trip. We'll see. Since we'll only be gone a couple of days, everything will fit in my Vera Bradley duffel:
Vera Bradley duffel (mine is actually retired -- Chelsey Green, but you get the idea (busy!), and my VB purse/tote (the Betsy) with all the pockets (love it!), in another retired color, Vibrant Black: VB Betsy with lots of pockets
I've heard people say that, to them, VB reminds them of a flower garden throwing up, or an LSD trip going bad. Oh, well. :)

Have a nice weekend and a Happy Father's Day everyone.

What's up for the weekend?

Not much going on in my part of the swamps. LSU is playing in Omaha (College World Series) Saturday night, and University of Southern Mississippi (my daughter and one of my son's alma mater) is playing Sunday night, so we'll be watching some baseball (at least have it on one tv) while trying to hide out from this heat. I also need to wrap some of J's Father's Day gifts so they'll be ready for him to open before or after our Memphis trip. I'll let him decide when to open them. I bought him an iPod touch and I just know he's going to have a time getting used to it, but.... I thought about an iPhone but he likes his old phone (and I really don't want to pay the monthly iPhone bill). He just wanted something to play games on, so I thought the iPod touch would fill the bill. We'll see. (The longer iPhones hang around, the more I like them. Plus, my dd loves her's, and son #2 works for them.)

Son #1 received his laptop this week. Don't cha just love Amazon? He likes it. (His laptop.) ;) Really likes it. I can tell. He named it. I continue to be surprised that people name their electronics. I'm so clueless around electronic stuff that I'm afraid to get that personal. I'm glad we bought son #1 a full laptop instead of a netbook. I think it will suit his needs more. But....like the iPhone, the more I see the netbooks, the more I want them. Sigh!

Yesterday, while doing some Memphis planning, I found coupons for most of the attractions we want to see. I was a happy lady--I rarely find deals. Sun Studios was one of the coupons offered. So, Jeff from Sun, we'll definitely be stopping by. Even without the coupon we'd have come by--Sun Studio is at the top of my husband's list. Thanks for the invite. Now I feel bad for saying I wasn't looking forward to the trip. I've read posts on Trip Advisor and I must say, Beale Street sounds much more impressive than I was thinking. And I think we'll take the trolley to South Main. The Metal Ornament Museum looks interesting, too. So much to do, so little time.

So....stay safe, stay cool, and enjoy the weekend everyone out there in cyberland.

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.