The past week in quick review...

Haven't had a lot going on lately, yet we've been busy. Does this mean we lead incredibly boring lives? Well, I'm okay with that.

Jim and I had a meeting (actually a couple of meetings) on Saturday in northern Michigan. Since we had to be there at 8:30am and it's about a five hour drive, we left Friday afternoon and spent the night before up there. The meetings finished a little earlier than anticipated. That's always a good thing. Don't you find that you're more exhausted sitting in meetings, or trainings, or a boring conference all day than if you worked or were doing something that allowed you to move around? Yep, us too.

Our meeting was at the Grand Traverse Resort in Traverse City.
My friend Dawn showed me this display.
It is all made of sugar. Way cool.

So, we started heading home. We were both tired though and had bad headaches so decided to stop for the night. Okay...maybe we wanted to stop at a couple of antique stores on Sunday. :) We were lucky to find a cheap, but clean motel. Since we were in the Birch Run area, we breakfasted at Tony's. Have I told you about Tony's? I didn't take a picture of our meals (mine was actually more normal sized), but the portions are huge and that's what they're famous for. It's impossible to finish your meal. Our leftovers were Duke's treat when we got home.



For the record, I had only eggs and toast. Jim had eggs, potatoes, sausage, and toast. The white box that we brought home was full with our leftovers. Some may call it a waste, but it's what Tony's is famous for.

We visited some nice antique stores and I seem to have now started collecting advertising trade cards. More on that another time.

So, let's fast forward to Tuesday. I had an appointment to have a root canal. Oh goody. My advice is to never postpone going to the dentist because you don't have dental coverage and don't want to spend the money. It costs more in the long run. Two cavities and a root canal.

My regular dentist decided to refer me to an endodontist. It appears I had a curved root. Go figure.  I was only nervous because my jaw hurt from the dentist appointment a week earlier. I figure if I'm numbed up, I'm okay. He numbed me up really good then told me that if I felt any pain at all to raise my left hand right away. He started drilling and I started feeling pain. I thought to myself, "It's okay. Tough is out. It can't be that bad." Then I quickly decided that it was not okay and I raised my hand. The dentist injected right at the base of my tooth. Waited for that to kick in and started again. The second time, I didn't need to raise my left hand as I nearly jumped out of the chair when he hit the nerve. He had to then give me a shot right in the nerve. He said, "It'll be intense for about 10 seconds." It was intense for longer than 10 seconds, but it did do the trick. I'm tough, I really am. This was just not fun! I have a high tolerance for pain, but this root canal broke me. I filled the prescription for Motrin and Tylenol 3 that he gave me, came home, took a Motrin, crawled into bed and slept for two hours. Today I am sore, but so much better. I go back in three weeks to finish. He didn't want to put me through the whole kabang in one shot, although he did say the worst is done. For that I am grateful!

For the rest of the week, we will be busy getting ready to help throw a Halloween bash at our son's house. It'll be fun. Just hope the weather is as nice as today was. Remind me to take some pictures!

Also, a big thank you to Delores at thefeatherednest! I won her Halloween giveaway and was thrilled to receive the package. I will share photos when I share the photos from the party as I'm loaning them as decorations. They WILL come back to my house though!!

Duker-day...And The Very Good Week

Duke here. For some reason I missed my regular day last Saturday, so I'll pick up here where I left off.

After that terrible week when my mom and sister left us and went far away to Minnesota, there was a very good week. It started when my dad worked like crazy to be caught up, loaded up the car, then told Sosha and I to hop in!

I could tell it wasn't just any trip. It was a trip to the cabin. And the lake! It's a long drive, like four hours. Dad stopped along the way at the place where we can get out and stretch our legs. And sniff around. And pee. Several times.

Then we got to the cabin. My mom was so happy to see us. I didn't mean to run right past her as she came out to greet us. BUT THE LAKE WAS THERE AND I WANTED TO SEE THE LAKE!

She forgave me. She's good that way.

Ahhh...the lake. My. Favorite. Place. Ever.

We went to a place called the Sand Dunes. And, except for the place where you buy the park passes, we didn't stop at any place where dogs can't go!

Beautiful views.

We even got to stick our paws in the waters of Lake Michigan.

After such a busy day, we were tired.

Some people and a small black dog got to go paddle-boating.
I just could not bring myself climb into that thing.

I felt it was my duty to swim out and guide them back. Over and over.

Don't do it Sosha! The water's over your head.
Sosha did decide she likes the lake, but after a couple of mishaps.
I think she knows now that you can't walk on lilypads.

 Jamie and Sosha left a couple of days before my dad and mom and I. And we went on another adventure. A working farm set during the depression era (whatever that means). And they allowed dogs on the tour. I DID NOT like the tractor wagon ride, but luckily we weren't on that very long.

There was a summer kitchen. My dad and I waited outside while my mom listened to the ladies and took pictures.
They were making something called sticky buns. This was my favorite part of the whole day. My mom brought a sticky bun out for my dad and he shared it with me. And a lady I didn't even know gave me part of hers! I was her friend after that!

My dad and I looking at...stuff.

And more stuff.

This very good week almost made up for the very horrible week. I hate it when my mom or dad go away. I really hate it when they both go away at the same time. I love it when they take me with them!

Poetry on Wednesday

I'm tired. But I'm trying to keep up here and I like to find a poem for Wednesdays. It is Wednesday, right? For a little while longer anyhow. I found nothing ahead of time and nothing strikes me right now. So, I'll just say:

Our Little Getaway

We had a great time;
Jamie and I.
Shopping and eating;

but not too much.
We laughed a lot;

and remembered the fun

that we had with my mom

on these trips when she could come.

My son texted me last night;

with a wonderful idea.

He and his lovely girlfriend

would meet us for lunch today.

They were traveling through the area

on their way home from 

a weekend away.

The perfect way

to end a wonderful

time away!

                                                                                            ~Laura Welser

Yes, I realize that is not a poem and I made it up as I went along. But I centered it and italicized it so it kind of looks like a poem. I probably shouldn't have signed my name to it though.

I'll do better next week!

One step forward...

...and two steps back.

Sometimes that's just how I feel.

I was all caught up on everything that I needed to be caught up on before we left on our trip and vowed to stay that way when we came back. For some reason that's not what happened, right away anyway. Sadly that usually means my little blog got little attention over the past several days. But I worked hard this weekend and all bills are paid (I wasn't even behind with those), packages and parcels that needed to be mailed out were prepared and sent out today. I did the banking and the grocery shopping. The house is neat (although my office is sadly in need of attention). Even the hen house is clean!

And that, my friends, is why I don't feel guilty about going away again. Only for an overnight. Not even two full days and not even two hours from home.

Jamie and I are headed to the happiest place in Michigan (besides the cabin):

First here

Then here

Hopefully we get none of this

Yep, it's that time of year again. We have to go, you know. It's tradition. Things are a little different this year, but we're big girls, we'll deal. Besides we're bound to eat healthier when one of us has multiple food allergies and the other can't eat certain things either. Both of us lost weight on our vacation!

Checking in...

Another LauraPalooza has come and gone. I'm still floating on Laura-love. :)

I've had limited internet for the past couple days (coupled with sheer exhaustion) and will have next to none for the rest of this week. I will share my LauraPalooza experiences, complete with pictures, next week when I return home.

For now, we're headed for a few days of rest, relaxation, and a bit of tourist stuff.

See you all soon!

A Day of Rest....

...before the fun begins!

We made it to Mankato last night. Road weary and a little slap happy, but it was a smooth journey. We had no internet access Monday night and were just worn out last night, so today I will share what we've been doing the past two days. Be prepared to be blown away. Not.

Out of Michigan and into Indiana!

We traveled through Illinois and Iowa (where we spent Monday night).

Saw some of this.

Some of this.

More of this.

And lots of this.

Finally this! Minnesota!

We made a couple of short stops on the way and I will blog about those later. We even browsed at a big antique mall where I spent less than $10! We'll rest today and maybe explore a little. Jamie's just two weeks out of surgery and feeling pretty good, but she did all of the driving (I offered many times) and could use a day of rest before the fun begins!

The only downside - I miss Jim terribly. Thank God for cell phones. :)

Monday's (err...umm I mean Tuesday's) Musings

Just so you don't think I dropped off the face of the earth.

Before the show. I'm over there. Excited and waiting for the show to begin!

Jim and I did indeed go to Nashville over the weekend. You can read about the highlight of our trip here at Beyond Little House. It was more than we could have imagined. We didn't stick around Nashville long. I insisted to Jim that we do what he wanted to do on the way home. I really wanted to stay around Nashville another day and I know that if I said the word that's what we would have done, but I figure if this man loves me enough to make these treks just for me then I can give him the "on the way home" part. He was able to go to Mammoth Cave in Kentucky - something he's wanted to do for a long time - so I'm happy. We also did a bit of antiquing, but is that a surprise?

So...well that's about it. Time is now spent catching up, doing year-end prep stuff for our business and clearing out the living room for a remodel.

Jamie and I...off to Frankenmuth - Part 3

Day 2 of our Frankenmuth adventure and we did a little town walking and shopping. Oh and we ate at the Bavarian Inn. :-) However, we began our day with a nice breakfast at our hotel. They have a great breakfast. You could get pretty full, but we didn't want to eat too much as we would be making pigs of ourselves eating hearty meal later in the day. Apparently, I was tired the second day as I didn't take nearly the amount of pictures that I had taken the day before. I mean, seriously, why didn't I take a picture of our meal?! And the shops?
Sorry. There are still a lot of pictures though, as you will see...

We started off our day by parking at the Bavarian Inn and heading to the River Place Mall. We see this "Willkommen" sign along the way.

We cross the Cass River to go to the mall, but there is another bridge. It's the old covered bridge that leads to the Bavarian Inn Lodge which is a great place to stay if you have kids.

Waterfall that leads from the mall area to the river.

The is the entrance to the River Place Mall. This is an outdoor mall with all unique shops and boutiques. If you're looking for a "normal" mall, this is not the place. There are some neat shops here though.

Then we head back to the Bavarian Inn. The restaurant is on the main floor and all the shops are in the basement area. Being touristy on this trip, we decided to wait for the glockenspiel which plays at specified times during the day. We had to wait about ten minutes.

So, we headed inside to a little lobby area. Look up and you see this. I love the light fixture.

You are still looking up here. I love the deer. My father-in-law made some like that several years ago.

It's noon and we headed back outside to the Glockenspiel Tower to hear the music and watch the tale of the Pied Piper. Do you see the bells at the top of the tower?

Then the doors open and the tale of The Pied Piper of Hameln (Hamelin) begins.

The Pied Piper makes a deal to remove the rats from the village.

And so he plays...

and the rats follow.

But alas, the villagers become suspicious of him and refuse to pay the Pied Piper the agreed upon fee. The Pied Piper is angry and promises revenge.

And so he lures the children from the village...never to be seen again.

Only a (and I'm using exact words here so please don't be upset with me) "crippled child" and a "blind child" who couldn't keep up remain to tell what has happened.

The End.

No. Really. The End. We went in and ate and were full and as usual I ate more than I should. We did a little shopping and walked about town and did a little more shopping. And my feet hurt. And I didn't take any more pictures. Sorry. I'm sure your upset about that! :-)

We left. We were happy, full, and broke. We will be back. 

And so concludes my three part series of our two day trip.