“The grass may be greener on the other side of the fence but you still have to mow it.”

Home at last....but not without labor.

We made it home on Saturday night after our vacation to West Virgineeeee and without hast, starting pulling all of the suitcases, boxes and extras out of the car in loading them into the house. My sister Victoria just about threw Alex and all of the things out of her car and hastily drove off to Arkansas (smart lady). Home at last, home to the Little Grey kitty who loves her mommy, home to the two dogs, Roxy and Raven who just started to fall into a state of mope after one week (that is all they can take apparently), home to the screaming Siamese and Himalayan cat named Simon who has a very very large mouth. Home to a massive amount of garden vegetables that needed tending too and home to my bed!! Woo Hoo!

I tried to acclimate myself to the house after living in a rental house for the 9 previous days and of course, I had to look in the fridge for what was growing fuzz, or what was lacking as I planned for the next days grocery trip. You see, I am slightly ADD and I am always thinking on the next level. Andrew was in the house 5 minutes and off goes the pants and up on the bed he jumped for his marathon Military Channel session. Kinsey unpacked the kitchen items (thanks) and put things away so we didn't have to. We are gonna miss her when she leaves on 8/10. I will say our house shower felt amazing after the shower trickle wanna be that we dealt with for 9 days.

The heat is ridiculous in Brighton TN and after being in the mountains without a ton of humidity, I swore that my clothing was going to stick to me permanently. While in church on Sunday morning, I had the fear of standing up and my skirt staying in the crack of my..... you know what. Mike was quite amused at the direction of the air-conditioner after walking to the car.

We mowed the rest of the grass (thanks Benji for the head start) and pulled weeds, watered flowers and picked vegetables from the garden. Mike also discovered these sweet peaches (the real ones with the pits) on our tree and the figs are ready. Welcome home to the non stop life of the Brooks household. Welcome Home.


AMEN I say to that...AMEN!

Secluded in West "By God" Virginia....all alone, with 20 of my friends and family

Ahhhhh, we are here! In the mountains, all getting here within about 90 minutes of each other! We checked into our house, called Hemlock Lodge late into the evening and all staked out our bedrooms. There are 6 bedrooms so who was going where was quite the task to take on. All I know was that I was NOT going to have a lower level bedroom because I was going to keep my windows open at night. I did that last year and the black bear decided he or she was going to come into my bathroom and it was NOT going to happen again.

The house is large and laid out like there are actually two houses, one without wifi and one with. Guess which one is the most popular? YES!! And phone service?? Do not even try unless you are standing in the corner of the bedroom and on your head in the mean time. The day after our arrival, the dryer stopped drying with heat and the real estate company we rented from are not pleased with us (as Victoria, my sister) calls on a daily basis for a solution but until then, we take the wet clothes to my sister Lori's house for the drying. She is sick of us~ and we are sick of no dryer! Stupid.

I look forward to the 60 degree weather in the mountains while Tennessee is sweltering in 100 + temps, it gives me something to laugh about and brag about to my friends back home.

We have had great time so far, and it is always challenging with this many folks in the house.....sort of like herding cattle and moving from point A to point B. Dinner time is a sight to see and it resembles a dining hall for the masses. ( I know how Jesus felt at times) Food has been awesome, having spaghetti and meatballs, taco soup, meatloaf, bratwurst and burgers and soups. Ice cream by the cartons full and I truly consider this an eat fest and it is not the low calorie kind. Needless to say, detox will be the first thing on the agenda when we arrive home and I don't mean in the alcohol department (although...that won't hurt either) Has anyone every heard of Wild Turkey American Honey? I have become well acquainted during this trip and the little honey bees who worked so hard should be hurting and worn out by the time we leave.

Vacation...stress free getaway. Who ever said that is a freakin' liar. :-)

Vacation 2010 ...Can you Smell it?

Hells Bells! The time has finally come.

After planning since last July (the day after our last vacation) and booking our vacation rental house in January, it is here. Yee Haw! The "to do" lists are made, the boxes of what we have to have (slim jims and adult beverages) are ready and the suitcases are all laid out in a neat little row waiting for clothing to be deposited. Panic has set in for sure. Do I have enough shirts? Do I have enough pants? Do I have enough vodka? Do I have enough toilet paper? Please know, our vacation is in the middle of the great state of West "By God" Virginia and there is NO Wal-Mart down the street, only the small grocery store that will charge you $8.00 for a gallon of milk ....so you catch my drift right? We are so prepared it scares me.

We have four vehicles heading that direction, one from East Tennessee, two from West Tennessee, one from Arkansas and commercial flights arriving from Chicago, Tampa and Memphis. Bringing up the rear is the private plane with John in the pilot seat comes later because my bro in law is basking in the Mexican Sun pretending to be a pilot. (He loves when I say that) . OOOHH!....Chad is flying to DC on Saturday!

Our SUV is sure to be packed tonight awaiting the morning departure at O7:00. (Bet that doesn't happen) and away we go hoping to meet everyone in the mountains at around 8 pm on Thursday night at the house. I cannot wait to get to the area and stick my head out the window like a dog and smell "THAT" smell, you know, THAT SMELL, the fresh scent of God's Country. Of course, when we cross the county line and the sign reads Tucker County, a tear will fall (or sobbing will occur) as this is where it all began, my grandparents came to the USA in 1912 and landed in Tucker County, WV. My Dad was born and raised in Tucker County and now, my parents final resting place is Tucker County.

Maybe I will fine the time to blog while we are there as you know that there is NO going on vacation without the laptop(s) as I know for sure that there will be about 5 - 6 there! We are electronic fools but fear not~! My blackberry email from work will remain silent! WOO HOO!
V A C A T I O N !

This year, lets hope that I wont write about a stupid bear who is trying to get into the bathroom window in the middle of the night. I had enough of that crud last year! Happy Trails!

Webelos Camp Adventure and those they left behind.

Whew, after a month of waiting, it has happened and Mike and Andrew are at camp about 150 miles from our home. I was ok until I heard the stories about the legendary huge "Coonzilla" and the massive amount of spiders that visit the primitive campsite, inside the tent. Of course, this is nothing we shared with Andrew or his brakes would have been applied as Mike attempted to get him in the truck. You know the song about not liking spiders and snakes? Andrew wrote it many years ago while in baby heaven. Off they went and I was concerned because I was worried about no cell phone service in BOOFOO Tennessee. Thankfully, I received a text from Mike when they arrived and a call this morning from Andrew who proceeded to tell me about the 'military" style tents and cots and the outhouse that he was not going to go in! (By the way, I just got a text from Mike and the outhouse refusal did not last long....SUCCESS!!) Andrew also informed me that he was almost asleep last night when they trumpets blasted Taps (his description) and woke him up therefore he had to start all over again falling asleep!

Andrew loved the pizza and the watermelon for dinner last night (they have to wear Class A uniforms to dinner) and has a day of adventure today that he was jabbering about. After talking to Mike, I am sure this man is going to sleep for days after returning home because Andrew has already informed him that he wanted to do the "Death March" on Wednesday morning at 5 am. I am so glad that I am home with Kinsey, did I mention that??

Kinsey and I are taking care of business on the home front.... except last night a spider (apparently sent from Andrews campsite) decided to walk right up the couch next to me. Thank goodness Kinsey was there because she beat the thing with a flip flop........ and I mean brutally! The only think left was dust and legs. Where did it go? Weird.

Did I mention that we are going on vacation soon and I am going solo in the preparation - where is the suitcase? At Camp! Where is my helper? At Camp! So, Mike may not have any Underoos or shoes or razors or important essentials in the suitcase to West Virginia. :-) I will be plentifully equipped and maybe he can wear my stuff!