sold!!

i have a confession.

i forgot the name of our Airstream.

today it hit me that i called her the wrong name.

her name in Inga.  it's a close second to Bertha but it's not Inga.

i named her that because she's a big boned gal (not unlike myself).  she's big and round and Inga seemed to fit.  so does Bertha. ANYWAY as i said in my previous post.....i thought that the lady that came to see her fell in LOVE and i was right.

she called today and made me an offer we couldn't refuse.

seriously....i refuse to let her hang out on my driveway one more day.

ANYWAY, Natalie, the new owner is coming to pick her up, so
i gotta clean her up and clear out 3 years of camping (8 trips all together) supplies.

we enjoyed owning an airstream. 
 
we were going to enjoy celebrating our 9th Anniversary camping, cooking on those wonderful gas burners, hiking, and kicking back.

BUT Natalie is bringing cash tomorrow!  so hellllllooooooooo Skirvin Hotel!!

goodbye Inga.
it was great knowing you ol gal!!
(tiny tear in my eye)

airstream

meet Bertha.

she's for sale.

lots of people have called with questions.

the questions are always a little strange.

here's how the ad on Craigslist reads.

31ft. Sovereign Land Yacht
$$$$.$$ (price)
skin (silver shell) in good condition
rear bedroom
cold AC
everything works
husband doesn't want to camp anymore
taking back our driveway
we've had lots of fun with this camper and now it's your turn

here are the questions....

how long is the camper?
how much do you have it priced at?
how's the skin?
does this camper have a rear bath?
so, does everything work?

ok.  seriously?

i don't get it.  everytime those questions came up i thought that they were trick questions.

anyway.  she is for sale.  i have enjoyed owning her and heck, at this rate....i may own her forever and ever.

the good news is that i LOVE her.

i have loved her from the day i met her in Alex (it's pronounced with a C).

i have loved spending the night with her and most importantly....

i love her gas stove.

i have even thought about going outside (on the driveway) and cooking dinner just so that i could use those wonderful burners.

anyway...a lady came to meet her yesterday and i am ALMOST scared she fell in love with her too.

if she buys her.......i may ask for visitation rights.

oh Bertha, how will we cope with not seeing you in our driveway each and every day for the rest of our lives. 

oh Bertha, how will we cope with having to see you in our driveway each and every day for the rest of our lives.

county fairs...part II

the fair is fun.

i LOVE fairs and carnivals.

i love the sicky, sticky, sweet smell of cotton candy and cooking grease from all the fried foods.

i love the sound of kids screaming and the hummm of generators.

i love seeing the smile on my lil girl's face when she's at the fair.

i like watching her ride (walking in a cirlce) the ponies like it's her first time...EVER to be on a horse.  even though she has ol Popcorn at home that she rides all by herself.

but she liked Sassy Girl.  probably because Sassy Girl has short legs like her momma. :)

i like seeing her be couragious and brave and try new things.

like this big slide.  the Titanic. 

she zoomed down the slide and went back for more...over and over and over and over again.

this kiddiepillar was lots of fun.  lots of fun surprises inside to play on and the generators blow hard through that tunnel so it's also a wind tunnel.  when they come out the end...it looks a lil strange.  a little like childbirth. (i am just sayin) it does.

she even tried the Sponge Bob swing (she was bored) and the Moon Bounce (bored).

then we took a break from the rides and got a sweet tea.

then she talked me into this cat face.  it was cute face art but NOTHING like the face painting my BFF Brandi Michelle can create. (BFF stories coming to a blog near you...soon)

anyway...a trip to the fair is always a great way to spend a BEAUTIFUL fall day in September.  any day is a great day to be at the fair.

i love the fair.

my lil girl is the 2009, 5 year old county tractor pull champion at our county fair this year.
she also received blue and red ribbons on her art exhibit entries.

i will always go to the fair. 

i will be a volunteer at the county fair when i am old.

my BFF (she's a fair lover herself) will probably have to drag me out each year....like these ladies.
and.....we will probably have rears like these too.

it will come from many years of enjoying fairs and their cotton candy and fried foods.

o how i love the fair!  it's a love-a-fair!

county fairs......part I

took my lil girl to a county fair today. 

we had fun. 

we saw stuff that is typical at county fairs.

and we saw stuff i've never seen before and that i'm sure i don't wanna see again.

we were walking through this group of people when all the sudden a woman carring a goose pushed through the crowd saying......excuuuuussee me!! 

she then drops this goose in a cage that had 100 numbers on the bottom of the cage.

in my mind i was thinking they were waiting for it to lay a GOLDEN egg.

then i turned to the lady next to me and said, "so...what's goin on? what's the duck doin in the cage?"
(at this point a big burly guy in a tank top and a mullet (i swear) yells out, "you might be a redneck if.........!")

"well, she said, we are waitin to see what number the duck poops on.  we paid 5 dollars for a square and there's 100 squares.  the winner gets $250 bucks.  then they "drawd" numbers and i got number 19.  i really don't have a chance but it sure is fun to watch."

fun?  really? 
i didn't think so....so we just walked away.

i have no idea who won.  it looked like it was going to take a while.

that poor duck had stage fright. 

so would i.

when i got home i found out that they do the same little "goose and poop" game with cows and cowpies on a field.  kev told me.

i told you my husband was smart.  apparently he's all "learned" when it comes to gambling poop games.

how did i not know that?

you'd think a farm girl would know that!

o well, now i know.

now you know....................

livin like it's 1899! or at least not 2009.

for the last 11 years my husband has wanted the world to "come off its wheels."  he only says that because he has some serious need to go back to the old ways of living.

he wants to live off the land. i almost think i would like it too....BUT.......

he wants me to grow a garden (i have and i do it well).  he wants me to can and preserve my bounty (i have and i do it well).  he wants me to milk a cow (i can do it).  he wants me to wash clothes (i do lots of that). BUT....without electricity?  what? 

no electricity? no garden growing, canning, milking, or clean clothes!  "but kev, we HAVE to have electricity!!"

"well we could have electricity, but where we gonna get 1200 dollars and thats if we just use it a little?"  "uh duh kev, we like sell a cow or two?!" 

(BTW, that's always my answer.  we need money for vacation?  we need to pay for the kids college?  we need to have work done on the farm?  we need to do blah, blah, blah.....sell a cow.  WHEW!  thankfully he doesn't listen to me.  we wouldn't have any cows left on our farms.)

ok, back to muh story......

so he brings this up from time to time and he even gives it some thought.  he goes through the "how" we would make it work from every angle.  and i am like uh huh and yes because although i think it would sorta be cool and i am pretty sure that we could do it and probably do it well....its NEVER going to happen. 

anyway, tonight he stumbled accross this show on National Geographic called Alone in the Wild.  its pretty cool.  i am enjoying it.  so is he, but i know he's thinking he could do it better.  "dead eye" as his grandpa Paul Williams called him could deliver on the hunting.  he's not really scared of bears, it seems, so i know he would totally enjoy trading places at the farmer's co-op with the fellow who's scared almost to death out there in the Yukon!

so as he watched this show tonight he began his grand plan....hmmmmmmm.  it sounded nice, but i just said, "well lets think about it some more and write out a plan."

he said we would never do it because we'd be to scared to totally let go of our current day to day!  i am mainly just scared of not being able to get nice sharp razors.  these legs grow forrests and for that reason alone...i am not sure it will ever happen.

wait.....we will need lots of razors?  we could just sell a cow?!  :) we could totally do it.........

i will let you know. 


p.s i love this man!  did i say that yet?!?

questions and answers!

i just downloaded the pics from our road trip to College Station.

i told you we were going.  we did.  we had tons of fun.  i took lots of pictures.

i was trying to think of something funny or a lil story but really....i got nothin!  Zilch, Zip, Notta!

i do have some questions....here they go...

how did this boy get so big so fast?

what are the chances that this one will go to college?

is there anything better than a seeing the love between a father and daughter?

will this man, Mike Sherman, lead the aggies into a winning era?

in college football......what's better than when 80,000 aggies unite?

don't you think i need one of these for my backporch?

do you think it's safe to sleep while driving?

answers:

age.....it just happens!

she'll probably go to college but they will make fun of her if she continues to pick her nose!

dads (especially this one) loves his three girls.

that coach better coach 'em to MANY wins or it's bye bye birdie for his tail...feathers.

when they cheer their aggies to a win!!!

of course you need an A&M fire pit....hello...dumb question!

anythings better than ali having to drive.... a man needs his rest....ooooooppsss....i mean.......................OF COURSE NOT!!!!!

the end. 

until the Texas A&M Aggies take on the Oklahoma Aggies (OSU).

Happy Birthday Martha!

i love my mother-in-law!

i am not even saying that because she reads my blog.

i am saying that because it's true and because i am truely thankful.

i am thankful for our relationship and for her love and friendship.

i am saying that because i realize that i am in the "i love my mother-in-law minority."

i am saying that God broke the mold after he made Martha.

she's a wonderful WIFE, MOM, MIMI, and Mother-in-Law.

she takes all those titles seriously and she is the best a person can be at all four.

she's a Christian, she loves her neighbor as she loves herself......she's selfless.

she's sweet, she's thougthful, she's kind, she's loving, she's smart and she's a country girl at heart!

AND she's celebrating a Birthday today! 

happy 60th (it's the new 70) Martha!

love, ali


P.S. she's so special they named a town after her in Oklahoma!

*not really, but if "the town naming people" met her they surely would!

1 mile South of Blair, Oklahoma in Southwest Oklahoma