Saturday, April 18, 2015

Flash flood watch whaaaaaaat

Thunderstorms woke me multiple times during the night, and I was able to sort of ignore them, but now that we're up and around and out and about its a little hard to ignore.

However, we are not about to let the weather get us down. We are going to push ahead with umbrellas and high hopes.

Friday, April 17, 2015

On the road!

7 people & all their stuff in a van heading to NOLA for the weekend.

SADDLE UP, YO...

... Because the Tucker girls are about to hit the trail. Well, two of the three of us are, anyway.

Welcome to the SmiBerMoMo Excursion! Away we will jaunt, slogging through the nasty weather until we have reached the lovely city of New Orleans. If, that is, we manage to survive the interminably slow passing of time as we finish our required adulting for the day.

To be continued!

Thursday, July 7, 2011

Pics from Friday, 7/1

I'm including a slideshow here - if you want a link to the actual album, please let me know and I'll provide a link. I'm tagging with the kids' real names, so we want to know exactly who's looking. :)  Enjoy!


Wednesday, July 6, 2011

Church bus

We just passed a broken-down church bus on the side of the road & it
made me think of Teresa's drive up.

Sent from my iPhone

Are we there yet?!

It shouldn't be this hard

So I posted earlier that we were heading out, but we just now got out
of Waynesville. Why? We couldn't find the recycling center. We're
conscientious folk, well-versed in recycling. We had more recycling
than garbage, even; tho that's where things went down the tube. If we
had more recycling than would fit in the can provided, we were
responsible for taking it to a center. How hard is that, really?

Well, never underestimate our ability to overcomplicate the simplest
situation. We read that it was near K-Mart. Good, we pass that all the
time! We drove past K-Mart & didn't see it. We stopped at Ingles for
ice & juice boxes, & asked them where it is. "By the K-Mart, you can't
miss it."

We try again, and despite multiple assurances of how easy it is to
find, we miss it. I google map recycle centers, & only get the big
places - not drop offs. I finally call the visitor's center - they
answer questions dumber than this all the time.

In the meantime, the children have once again lost their minds. Bubba
was hollering, and the other 3 in the very back seat were whining and
bitching. Adults were speaking loudly to the children. It was
stressful.

The gentleman that was helping me was very nice, and never once asked
who was being tortured in the background. He gave me directions...of a
sort. You pass the K-Mart, by the way. Like, over a mile past K-Mart.
I relayed the directions to Val-she's driving right now-and I asked
the appropriate questions. Did I mention it was stressful? We were
sitting in the parking lot of a Verizon store by this tine, a huge bag
if recycling plopped in the middle of the van, all desperate to go
home.

He said to "turn left at the 3rd light that's 19." then he put me on
hold for a moment while he asked someone for the street name. The
absurdity of the whole situation crashes down on me at thy precise
moment. The light that's 19? What the ever-loving hell is that
supposed to mean?

I started laughing; silently but VERY hard. It was like laughing in
church - it's funnier sometimes because you're not supposed to do it.
What if the very helpful man comes back on while I'm silently
guffawing?!

Val looked over, & I had one hand clamped over my mouth, the other
holding my phone to my ear, and tears streaming down my face. Then I
snorted; and baby, at that point? All bets are off. Full-fledged
hysterical laughter. Eyes tearing, nose running...the works.

The very nice man came back & once again didn't ask any questions. I
tried not to sound hysterical & thanked him for his help. Turns out he
meant "Turn right at the 3rd light-that is 19 (as in Hwy 19)."

So we found it, waited in a ridiculous line, and finally got rid of
the recycling.
Nearly an hour after we cleared the driveway, we are on our way home.
My tummy hurts from laughing, & my head hurts from the entire process.
I'm gonna nap, maybe.

Sent from my iPhone

A parting shot

We are packed up & heading out. Val made it out of the driveway like a
boss, & now we're headed out to drop-off our excess recycling & buy
some ice for the cooler before we hop on the interstate.

Tuesday, July 5, 2011

Clingman's dome

I think this is the highest altitude I've ever been...the only thing
is that it's really smoky up here & we can't see a damn thing!

Dorito hand print

See it? Buddha used me as a handrail to get down the steps out back to
throw poppers.

The view this morning

It's a little foggy at Base Camp this morning. Downright chilly, too.

Monday, July 4, 2011

Words of Wisdumb

Mac is deciding whether to ride home with us or early with TJ & Billy.
Bella says that he should ride with us so she'll have someone to talk
to - someone closer to her age. Mac says, "you can talk to your Mom -
she's like a 9 year-old on the inside."

Sent from my iPhone

Another 1st for Teresa

So we were popping glowsticks & she asked why mine were brighter than
hers. I said that I break them very thoroughly, and as I was
cautioning her not to be so thorough as to BREAK it, you'll just never
guess what happened. Mmmhmm.

This took SOOOO much work...

But I think it's worth it!

Saturday, July 2, 2011

Same as the previous, only more scenic

Aaand we're out

We all suddenly realized we were done shopping & that it was time to
eat. Immediately. So while we walked out to the vehicles, I ninja'd a
pic of their backsides.