Day 208

It's been a long and busy day for me here in Georgia. I was up at around 6:00. Saw Tiffany off to work, saw Sam & Shelby off to school, and I spent the morning here. I did a little bit of dishes, a little bit of laundry, and a little cleaning. 
For an hour I talked with Wade on skype. He is doing good and trying to adjust to his new time schedule. We had quite a few quiet moments and lots of yawning going on, but still it was great to talk with him. 
Tiffany came home at noon and we went out to lunch and then shopping.We went to a new store called "Charming Charlies", which is a store with earrings, jewelry, and accessories that are arranged according to color. It was a huge store - and we walked through blues, and greens, purples, blacks, yellows, etc. Very impressive.We went to Shoe Carnival and Tiffany got two pair of 'winter' shoes - which means they aren't sandals and are close-toed. Off to the mall then to look for an outfit. We walked through Macy's, but Tiffany's comment was, "These are old lady clothes". So we went through the mall and came upon Belk (Belks??). We both found tops that will go with black slacks and we are prepared for our "Mystery Palace" tomorrow. (Although most everyone knows what the mystery palace already is). 
Our last stop was Wal-Mart (as usual) and we picked up things that were needed here at the house. 

And now we're two tired ladies and are resting in the living room on the couch. Sam and Shelby are at their Granny's house this weekend. Unfortunately, I believe Tiff is too tired and I'm too old, otherwise, we might have had a slumber party here tonight. 

Day 207

I got emails from Wade today. He has finally arrived at his final destination and is happy about that. There is work waiting for his attention and he can go through that in the days to come. His friend brought him some local food and he is feeling 'loved' through the food. That's nice. 
I woke up this morning - loaded up the car, hugged my animals goodbye and headed for Georgia. Today it took me 10 hours due to some construction, but I finally arrived at about 7:00 and Tiffany had dinner ready and waiting when I arrived. 
Just having a quiet evening in the living room now and making plans for tomorrow and Saturday. And I saw that the weather is going to take a drastic turn to cooler temperatures here too. Can't wait!! 
Okay - Tiff, there you go, that's enough for tonight, go to bed, good night and sweet dreams. 

Day 206

I got an email from Wade today. He is doing fine although he isn't at his final destination yet. But he's okay and that's nice to know. His internet service isn't that great so I get short, quick notes just say hi. 
Since I am leaving again tomorrow morning, I spent today in preparation for that. I got gas and a couple other things at Walmart. 
It was cold and drizzly all morning, but when I came home from the store, the sun was starting to come out for a short time. 

This particular tree is the first on the property to start turning. It's down the hill a ways and I wasn't brave enough to hike down close enough to get a better picture, but I enjoy the splash of red in the middle of the green. Soon the view be much more colorful. 

On the way back to the car I saw the effect of the sunshine on the wet roof. It was steaming pretty good. Once I was inside, though, the clouds came back and we had no more sunshine today. 
I went to Wednesday night Seekers & Singers Class tonight. We only had 12 children and 4 adults. But those 12 were still as loud and as unruly as 30. But the night went well and I had fun. 

Day 205

I didn't hear from Wade until late this afternoon. It's harder for him to find internet access or GOOD internet access, but I did hear that he is in Kuwait City at this time and is awaiting transport to his 'home'. 
I did some catch-up reading for my Spiritual Leadership class, some laundry, shopping and this afternoon I went and helped with Sonshine Club at the school. 
I only have today and tomorrow in Ohio and then I'm off again to Tiffany's for a few more days. 
The weather is cool and cloudy. We got a couple drizzles of rain but nothing substantial. 
I am enjoying some quiet time tonight.

Day 204

Today was THE day. After breakfast at Tiffany's house, saying goodbye to Tiff heading off to work, and Sam & Shelby going to school, Wade and I drove to the airport. It took a little over an hour to get there and we arrived at about 10:30. I dropped Wade off in front of the terminal and then I left. We usually do it that way. Hate to be boo-hoo-fee (our made-up word) in the terminal. It's just easier to have to say a quick goodbye. 
I took off for home and finally arrived tonight at 8:30. I did drive through some pretty wild storms in northern Tennessee, but they were gone when I arrived at the halfway point. It was scary for a while, but I just slowed down, as did everyone else.  
Nice to be home and I'll unpack tomorrow. 
Last I heard, Wade was supposed to take off at 5:30 and I haven't heard anything after that. So I look forward to hearing more tomorrow. 
But we had 16 wonderful days together and that was special for both of us. We had some good quality time and some fun adventures - so glad for that. 

Day 203

Today is Wade's last full day here in the U.S. We woke up and went to church with Tiffany, Sam & Shelby this morning. Then we split up - Wade and Tiff went out to lunch together (more BBQ) and I took Sam & Shelby out for lunch (mexican). Shelby was a little concerned about Wade & Tiff being out together alone and asked if Tiff was planning on moving to Ohio. 
Tonight we watched the movie "Soul Surfer" and then picked through all the leftovers for something for dinner. We've eaten so much the last couple of days that there were lots of leftovers. And then Tiffany made these awesome chocolate chip cookies that were soooooooooo good. 
We'll have a quiet evening together tonight and get ready for tomorrow. 
Good night now, Tiff - and thanks for putting up with your parents. 

Day 202

We're in Dallas - at Tiff's house. She was gracious enough to let us sleep in her bedroom last night and this weekend. It is a wonderful room and a very comfy bed. 
Tiffany & I went to Granny's house to pick up Sam & Shelby and bring them home this morning. 
At 1:00 we all went to Rodney's BBQ Restaurant to meet up with old, old friends from when we lived in Georgia years and years ago. We had a great time just talking and visiting with all of them. 

Connie Briggs with her family: Bob, Riley & Robbie,
Anna (Mimi) Marr, Tiff, Shelby & Sam

Mimi, me, Wade & Sam

When we got back to Tiff's house, we challenged the kids to see how much of their rooms they could clean in 15 minutes. I took pictures before and after. It actually took 3 cycles of 15 minutes, but the rooms were beautiful and clean and no fighting or arguing about having to do the work. Yay!!! 

Sam before

Sam after

Sam before

Sam after

Shelby before

Shelby after

Shelby before

Shelby after

Then Shelby treated me to a 'makeover' where she curls and styles my hair and adds some make-up. I pulled her into the picture too even though she was kinda squirmy and didn't want to pose. 

Tonight we had sandwiches from Publix for dinner (after I re-did my hair and took off the make-up) and watched the movie "Thor". It's been a full and fun day. 

Day 201

This morning in our kitchen before we left.
And the hat goes back on, Mr. Wide. 

We're moving on to our next section of the journey. We took off for Georgia this morning. It was a nice drive down - it took 9 hours and Wade was nice enough to drive the whole way. He knows that I will be driving the same trip 3 more times in the next 7-10 days. We arrived at Tiff's house at around 6:00 tonight. We went out to dinner with Tiffany at Martino's Restaurant which had delicious food. Wade had a Greek Sampler Plate and Tiff and I had sandwiches. Very good. We stopped at Publix after that to pick up coffee fixings and some ice cream. Now we're tired out and ready to relax. 

Day 200

This is one of my trusted calendars. I rely on calendars
so much in my daily life. I keep this one in the hallway
between my bedroom and the kitchen.

I'm surprised that it's already 200 days. And this "Day 200" is the last full day in Ohio for Wade during this trip. After breakfast we did a quick list of errands:
Mailed Dixie's package at the post office.....
Picked up medications for Angel & Sheba......
Bought dog food for the babies while we're gone......
Drove over to Fairborn to do some shopping:
     Wade went to the comic book store 
     and I looked through the Bible Book Store.
This afternoon we picked up Jaide and Jared and spent a "final" afternoon together. We went to Young's Jersey Dairy and played putt-putt golf and finished up with ice cream. What a nice memory for all of us to have to remember Grampee.

Wade was the winner today. Good job!!

Of course, we needed to have a silly picture too.

Ice cream time and he tried to taste it all.

Tonight when they get back from their football and cheerleading practice they will all say goodbye to Grampee. 
Tomorrow we head out for Georgia and a final weekend with Tiffany, Shelby & Sam. 

Day 199

Time is getting short - but we're just having fun enjoying each other's company. This morning we drove over to Plain City to have breakfast at one of our favorites - Der Dutchman Restaurant. It's Amish cooking and it's delicious. The picture doesn't really show his true feelings - we were happy to be there. Maybe he's getting tired of me snapping all these pictures:

We're in the parking lot and getting ready to head in. They've done lots of reno-vations at the restau-rant and it's totally different now, but much, much bigger. After breakfast we went through the gift store and bought his mom, Dixie, her birthday present (birthday is Sunday - she'll be 81). Then we stopped at the bakery and brought home a small grape pie. Never had grape pie, but it's wonderful!! Kinda like a cherry pie - tart-ish with grapes. Mm-mm- good. 
While I was in the gift shop I saw this picture and wanted to show Wade but he was on the other side of the building so I just took a picture:

Maybe we can teach Angel to chop Christmas trees and help us make some money.
We drove to the base so Wade could turn in his time sheet - then went to the credit union to get $$ for Wade's travels. 
I've been thinking on a different twist in my life and need to pray about it, investigate and research, and pray more. I'm not ready to share, but I just need to really pray about it. But no, I'm not adopting a kid, no, I'm not moving, and no, I'm not joining the circus.............Maybe I want to go into the woods and chop Christmas trees and tie them to my back..........

Day 198

Today was a fairly quiet, ordinary day. Wade says it's like practice for when he retires. I took him on a drive around downtown Springfield to show him the construction that has been going on with the new hospital. I stopped at the RiteAid there and got my annual flu shot. 
Then we went to Wal-Mart and walked around some. He bought some DVD's (the first season of "Camelot") to take back with him. 
We drove to First Watch Restaurant to meet one of his colleagues, but she didn't show, so we just went home, fixed our own lunch, and watched (fell asleep) to "X-Men First Class". But, what I saw was pretty good. 
Now tonight, it's just a quiet evening together. Not a lot to report today - but I'm enjoying the time together with Mr. Wide. 

Day 197

Days that are out of the ordinary or not what was expected are usually the ones that are best remembered.......
Today was one of those. 

Wade and I woke up at Chief Logan Lodge this morning and had some conti-nental breakfast in our room along with coffee. Then we put on these 'beautiful' yellow rain outfits and headed out.

 The scenery was beautiful -we drove on back roads through West Virginia, Kentucky, and Ohio. We rode in rain and clouds the whole way. There were towns in West Virginia that are dying - empty, abandoned homes and businesses. So sad.

Somewhere on a back road in West Virginia. And this, children is
how we used to pump gas. I couldn't get phone reception
either. Very, very secluded. And Wade said that the clerk was very
envious of him getting to drive the motorcycle.

 We went over many miles of twisty, curvy roads through national forests. We went past beautiful homes and farms and animals. On a motorcycle, everything seems more vivid and close up.  I didn't take pictures of the sights along the road with a camera, but I did take many, many mental pictures that I will be able to recall in my imaginations. 
And my rain pants fell apart about halfway home, so after that, my jeans got wet from the knees down - but, oh well. We both got cold and were pretty tired out when we arrived home but would I do this again? You bet!!! 
First thing I did was take a nice, long, hot shower and my sweetheart of a husband made a pot of coffee. After we recovered, he took me out to Texas Roadhouse for dinner. And now we're watching recordings of "Haven" and "The Closer" in the living room. 
Another good day and one that we'll look back on and say, "Remember when.......?" 

Day 196

Today we had our day of adventure to Logan, West Virginia on the motorcycle.

Why Logan, West Virginia?? Why not?? It was chosen for the route - the curvy-ness of the road and the potential for beautiful scenery. We were up and gone before 8:00 in the morning. For an overnight trip we don't need to pack too much. A change of clothes, some walking shoes, our toothbrushes, and we're good to go. 

The animals got their breakfasts, we had a cup of coffee and headed out. It wasn't too cold. We needed our jackets and gloves, but we've driven in colder weather. Our first stop was breakfast in Jeffersonville. It's the restaurant at the Flying J Truck Stop. It used to be just the Flying J Restaurant, but it is now Denny's - which is fine for us. 

We split a "make your own" Grand Slam where we choose the four items. Wade got eggs, potatoes, and half a biscuit. I had the oatmeal and other half of the biscuit. Perfect and I still couldn't finish the oatmeal. 
We came across some fun roads, lots of curves and scenery. We drove along the Ohio River through Ohio and crossed over into West Virginia. 
Some of the areas we drove through in West Virginia were very, VERY depressed areas and I tried to imagine in my head what they might have looked like in good times. And there were an average of 1-2 churches every half mile. Amazing!! So many "Baptist" churches. 

We arrived at around 3:30 at the Chief Logan National Forest Confer-ence Center. Beautiful view from our room. We have a pretty big suite with a patio area. It's pretty quiet here tonight since it's a Sunday night. We may get some rain tonight, but it should be clear tomorrow morning. But we were so tired when we arrived (that happens to old people when they ride on motorcycles all day) and the dining room closed at 3:00. 

After a short nap, we went to the gift shop to see if they had anything we could buy that might resemble dinner, but it's just candy. The lady at the front desk gave us a menu from Giovanni's which will deliver to the lodge. We ordered:
Baked Spaghetti and Meatballs (which came with garlic bread),  
Fried Raviolis with Marinara Sauce,
and two forks. Not a bad dinner for two old people. We ate what we could and put the rest in the fridge in our room. It's available for us if we want to nibble again later tonight. 
Right now, Wade is watching football and I'll either watch something on the computer or read the book that I brought. It's a new one I got called, "A Twisted Faith" by Gregg Olsen. It is a true story that has been discussed on NBC's Dateline. I bought a used copy through amazon.com and only spent a few dollars. I love buying used books off that website. 

Day 195

Wade wanted to make sure that we were not quite as lazy today. So this morning we went to the Fairfield Mall and walked around. Mainly just looking, but we stopped in Dick's Sporting Goods and he bought a pair of running shoes. Surprisingly, it was pretty quiet and calm at the mall, but then again it was early in the day. We were probably just awake before all the teens woke up. 
This afternoon we sat out in the side yard and had our lunch and just relaxed out there. Nice view, nice sounds, wonderful time - 

Our view from left to right as we sit outside.

Tonight we went to a small church service that a friend was holding in Huber Heights - the One Love Church. They just celebrated their one year anniversary last week. It was fun to be there and to see some of our old friends from our old church that now attend there. It is held in a building that is next to the post office in Huber Heights. It's too far for us to attend, but it was nice to just pop in and see how they're doing. 

Day 194

la·zy

   [ley-zee]  Show IPA adjective, -zi·er, -zi·est,verb, -zied, -zy·ing.

adjective

1. averse or disinclined to work, activity, or exertion; indolent.

2. causing idleness or indolence: a hot, lazy afternoon.

3. slow-moving; sluggish: a lazy stream

   (See diagram at left)

Can we be any lazier??

It was chilly this morning. After breakfast we wound up in the living room with little blankets over our legs and it felt very comfortable. Wade has discovered the whole first year's series of "Game of Thrones" on HBO.com and spent the day watching all the episodes. I just had to keep him company and watched other shows on the TV while he had his earphones on. 

Tonight we did a Pizza & Movie Night. Jason & Peggy stayed too and spent this time with us. We watched the movie "Tangled" and had cheese-stuffed crust pizza, salad, and chips. Then during our 'inter-mission' we had cake and ice cream. 

It was a fun time - and we don't see Jaide and Jared as often because of other things that they do during the week - so it was nice to see them too.  

Jared sat with me in the chair for part of the movie. And just so you don't think I'm TOTALLY lazy... ..... I actually had to physically drive the car to pick up the pizza because they don't deliver to our house. So I feel like that should redeem me from being considered completely lazy.

Day 193

Hocking Hills Trip October 2010

The weather has turned today and given us the promise that fall is just around the corner. I spent the morning with Wade - we are trying to have his favorite breakfast every morning until he leaves. So far we've had it 5 mornings. 

Hocking Hills Trip October 2010

We also talked about an overnight motorcycle trip and made reserva-tions for Sunday night. It looks like lots of fun and I can't wait. I love autumn trips on the bike. It will be to Logan, West Virginia and is in a national forest. How fun!!

This afternoon I did some of my favorite pastime - shopping! But not JUST shopping, but saving while shopping. I had coupons and bought some clothing at Kohls - $120.00 of clothing for $67.00 final price PLUS a $10.00 Kohl's Bucks certificate for my next trip. Then I went to Wal-Mart where I bought $135.00 worth of groceries for $115.00. Not bad. I love using my coupons and saving money like this. 
Now tonight we are watching television and enjoying a quiet evening together. 
Again, Wade is hoping to be able to stay awake until at least 9:00. Last night he didn't make it past 8:00 - so we'll see how he does. I couldn't FALL asleep last night so I finished "The Help" and started reading a Kindle short by Stephen King called "Mile 81". Seems pretty good. And "The Help" was an excellent book. 

Day 192

Wednesday - Now that I'm not doing my normal weekly activities, it's very hard to remember what day it actually is. Thank goodness I have a computer, cell phone, and multiple calendars to help me figure it out. I have not, however, determined yet how many days Wade has left in the US. It will come fast enough. 
Wade went into work today to see his co-workers and bosses. They had a meeting and he discussed what his plans and expectations are for 2012. Then he went out to lunch with some friends at Max & Erma's. I did not go with Wade this morning. I figured it would just be better for him to meet all his friends on his own. He also took in two cakes we baked last night to share with everyone. 
While he was gone today, I took the time to catch up on laundry, vacuuming, and dishes so that I wouldn't have to do those things while he was here with me. 
And tonight we are just resting in the living room and watching the movie "Avatar".  

He's still trying to adjust to the different time zone and usually starts getting sleepy around 8:30 or 9:00 and ends up falling asleep in his chair.
We are looking at some different ideas about an overnight trip and hopefully a MOTORCYCLE overnight trip. It would possibly be Sunday and Monday. 

Day 191

It's Tuesday - We stayed at home this morning and enjoyed breakfast, coffee, and recorded television shows. Then at 12:30 we took off for Hal & Rose's home. They live almost 40 miles away and it took us about an hour to get there, but on the motorcycle, it was a wonderful drive. The weather cooperated and we had warm sunshine and some winds, but no clouds and no rain. 

Here are Wade and Hal in the yard beside the pool. We were intending to swim if the weather and pool water was warm enough, but it was just a little bit chilly so we decided not to. 

The landscaping was so beautiful. 

The colors were spectacular and this is all Rose's handiwork.

Lunch was delicious too. They served us:

Jack Daniels Pulled Pork with buns

Fried chicken

Baked Beans

Corn on the Cob

Potato Salad

Deep Dish Apple Pie

Their house is so big and beautiful. We moved around to different locations throughout the house to just talk and enjoy each other's company. 

This is the view from the kitchen window.

All too soon our visit was over. We had a great time with our friends and made plans for a meal at our home next time when Wade comes home on RnR. 

Now it just so happens that Young's Dairy happens to be on the road that we took home. How could we not stop in and pick up some ice cream for our dessert tonight?? 

Another great day of Mr. Wide's 2011 RnR Experience.