~7-17-06~ What I've been up to........

well not too much going on here. same old, same old.


we did decide to go away over bob's vacation. we went down past columbus, to hocking hills area.


we stayed in a wonderful cabin (house). Salt Creek Retreats.





it was GREAT!!!! nothing but peace and QUITE! i loved it! it was so relaxing.

we really didn't do much there and that was exactly the plan!

our first night there was the 4th and it rained, but who cared! it was nice to sit on the big ole porch, on the porch swing and watch the lightning.

the next day we did head out to find some sites in the hocking hills state park area.

we stopped at ash cave.




it was really pretty.

we also went over to old man's cave, but as soon as we got there my camera's battery died, so we decided to head back to the cabin and come back the next day.

so we headed out the following day, without the dog this time, and stopped at cedar falls.




we almost didn't go there. i am glad we did cause it was just beautiful!

then we headed back to old man's cave.



which was great, but as soon as we got there i twisted my damn ankle at the bottom of these steps. i was sooooooooo pissed! i tried to walk the whole thing, but it was getting pretty bad and hard. i only missed the end part, but bob took clay and got some pictures.

after that we headed back home. we were supposed to go play in the creek at the cabin, which was the WHOLE reason i picked that cabin, but i could NOT walk. so i was laid up in the house while bob and clay went out.

the next day we headed home. it was so nice.

the drive sucked of course!!!! after about 15 minutes of driving all we heard was, "TAKE SO LONG?!?!" which is clay's version of are we there yet?! so annoying! luckily he fell asleep, for about 1/2 hour at the most.



and woke up while bob was back in a police car getting a fucking ticket!

i was livid! we were following this car that was FLYING!!!!!!!!! then we got way behind, so we sped up to catch up, somehow from somewhere this cops gets US on his radar. i'd like to know where the hell he was when that other car went past him!!!

it didn't help that the cop was a dick!!!!!!!!!! he was taking his good old time, and i am like PLEASE hurry!! while my child is still asleep!!!! he came back to the car to get the insurance card, that i had to go dig out of our luggage, and he made bob come back to his car. i was like what the fuck?! then clay wakes up!! GREAT!!!!! he finally sees that his dad is in back with the police, so out of the blue he is like "daddy get ticket?" how in the world he knew what that was even about was beyond me!!!!!!!!!! so i was like yes.

then i look back out the side mirror and i see the cop giving bob a sobriety test! WHAT?!?!?!!? then i got real pissed!!! i was about a millisecond from being a broad on cops by jumping out the car and going off on the cop!

so then i got real stressed!! thinking, did he have a beer while we were loading the car today?!?!?! i didn't think so, but who knows........then at this point, for some reason, clay starts freaking out, crying and screaming for his daddy!!! i am trying to calm him, and he is wigging!!!!! thankfully just as i got out to get clay out, bob came back to the car...telling me i have to drive.

WHAT?!?! here the cop "suggested" that since bob has a medical condition, and apparently has no reguard for the speed limit that i should drive. i was so pissed at that cop, i wanted to go back and give him a piece of my mind!!!! thankfully i am pretty level headed and knew that would do no good, so i got in the driver side.

um did i mention before that i HATE driving on the highway?!?! HATE!!!! DON'T DO IT!!!!!!

not to mention i was in a car that i have never driven before in my life!!!!!!!!!!!!

yes, on a side note.....on how much we love spending money we don't have, we went and got this for vacation...



we traded bob's car in and got this for $580. which also brings me to those crooks at the car lot. we checked the blue book and seen that bob's car was worth about $2500, more than mine, that is why we did his. so we went out with his car and $600 to look at mini vans around $3000. we tried a few small mom and pop lots, with no avail, so we came home and hit a big lot. we told him what we had, well we told him $500.

he comes back and says that bob's car was only worth about $2000, so we would need about $900. we were like, sorry charlie, and were leaving and he then goes, i can go see if he will take $600. we just ate lunch, so all i had was $80 more. so he went and checked and sure enough we got the deal. ***note, bob went there today and they are selling his car for $4000!!!! telling us it was only worth $2000. fuckers!

anyways, so i drove the van to the next rest stop and bob resumed driving, THE SPEED LIMIT! so $120 ticket! going 83 in a 65. sucked, and clay was up, so we had the whole "take so long" the whole 3 hours of the drive!!!! bernie on the other hand was wonderful!!! he gets in a car and all he does is sleep!


it was nice, and sooooooooooooooooooo dark! it is amazing at night there! here it seems the lightning bugs come out for about 1/2 hour and then they are gone. there....there they are out ALL NIGHT LONG!!!!! i mean it was even raining and you could still see them lighting up all the trees! it was amazing!!!!!

another amazing thing. those pink flowers in the picture, by the drive. SWARMED WITH HUMMINGBIRDS!!!!!! i have never seen one in real life before and that bush was covered with them!!!!!! it was incredible! i would just sit there and watch forever.

it was really nice, and really cheap!!!! not counting the car or the ticket, or the other stuff i bought for the trip but really didn't need, i bet we only spent almost $400 for the cabin for 3 nights ($105/night+tax+dog charge)and not even $100 on food. we only had to fill up our tank on the way home and that is cause i had bob drivng all over for some stupid store that was NOT worth it!

oh and i also got ALL my christmas shopping done, in one store on our way home!!!! we stopped at this wind chime shop. i got everyone a beautiful windchime. i'll tae pictures later to show you all. so, there was $300+ dollars, but hey, shopping done!!!

oh and also $600 on our cars...since we thought we were taking my car, i got it serviced and it came to about $300. then since my air was still not working, almost the main reason we got the minivan, i got it serviced and had to get 2 front tires for it, so another $300 there!

maybe this was an expensive trip!!!!! but you figure last year when we went to niagara falls, i spent almost $800 just for 2 nights at the embassy!! then we stayed at 2 additional places, and ate out everynight at cadaian prices!!! so, i still think we spent less this time!

and it is a good thing we got the minivan, cause i don't know where all the stuff we packed would have fit!!!! that van was PACKED!!! we had the very back seat out and even removed the 2nd capt chair in the middle. the rest was packed! with a small bit of room for bernie to move around.

the only real thing that sucked about down there was i could not get a signal on my cell!!!! and there was no phone. i was going nuts without calling my mom, and shw was definitely freaking out that i did not call to tell her we got there ok. i didn't even speak to her til thursday, and we got there tuesday! for me to go that long without speaking to my mom is unheard of! i don't even think we go 24 hours with out talking several times!

when we got home on friday, our first pit stop was the ER. my ankle was killing me!! that took forever! i got there about 6pm, and didn't get out til after 9pm! it actually didn't take long once i got back in the room, which is a surprise, it just took over a half hour to even get called to registration, then after that it was well over an hour before i got taken back! it is better now, but gets kind of achy if i am on it too much.


another good thing about the cabin....the only channel it could get was CBS, which meant i got to watch the season premier of BIG BROTHER!!!!!!! it was great!

on that note i will just say i was sooooooooooo happy that kaysar, janelle, and howie are there!!! except now they (kaysar) is being stupid!!!!! why in the hell will and booger were not nominated the first week is beyond me and now they aren't this week?!?!?!? i thought kaysar was smart!!!!

in a way i do think this could be good though, i actually think nakomis is a stronger competitor than will or booger....so maybe kaysar does know what he is doing, i just hope it doesn't come back and bite him!!!!

i had more to write, but i still have to add pictures here and it is late. my pictures didn't come out too well. not sure why, it may have been how humid and "thick" the air was. you can check out all the pictures over at flickr, click on the link to the left or go here.

my child has been going to sleep at about 7pm lately, which is WONDERFUL, but that also means he has been getting up at 7am, which SUCKS!!!!!!!!!!!!! i need to head to bed!! night all!!