I'm so lonesome I could cry

Christmas may be a very lonesome time for this girl.

We found out today that Jared is headed to South Carolina to help Jeremy and Josh with their warehouse during the winter busy season.

It is kind of a double-edged sword. He will be able to pick up at least 50 hours a week, which is some much needed extra money, but at the same time I will be by myself for Thanksgiving and Christmas this year. :( I am supporting him and I know this is what he needs to do for us right now, but it still doesn't change that I will be all alone during the wonderful holiday season. In years' past when he was away for the holidays, I was only about 2 hours from family, so I was never by myself.

He is set to leave next Tuesday and I am sad. I am not sure what I will do. We really can't afford for me to fly everywhere (it would kind of defeat the purpose of him going down there to make more money). I found a relatively cheap flight from Indianapolis to Tulsa, so maybe I will go stay with my parents over Christmas. Oh what to do, what to do. Any advice anyone?

I guess I need to start booking more jewelry shows to cover my expenses! Anyone wanna host a Premier Designs Jewelry Show? :)

Step by Step

ooohhhh baby... gonna get to you girl

Oh my bloggie friends, I am back! I have missed you all and it took me a good hour to catch up on everyone's blogs.

I have so much to say about my trip I don't even know where to begin! Here goes....

The Road Trip: About 90 miles into the trip we take a wrong turn in Chicago and get into an argument. Conversation doesn't fully continue until we get to Bloomington, IL and even then tempers are high. :) A great start to our trip.

Tulsa: We arrive in Tulsa Saturday evening at about 7:30 p.m. We had a wonderful time visiting my parents and my sister who came down for the weekend.

Girard/Pittsburg: Oh, our poor little house still has that lonely for sale sign in front. :( It was in pretty good shape... a few house crickets inside, but other than that no sign if mice or other rodents intruding on our precious home. We turned the heat on to 50 degrees, put our vent covers on the outside of the house and made sure everything was in good shape. We then went over to Pittsburg to eat at Chatters with all our friends. So glad we got to hang with all of you!NKOTB Concert: This is the BEST part!!!! Misty and I headed to the Sprint Center in KC for the concert of the year... yes, that's right the New Kids on the Block! It was such a great concert. At one point, when Joey was singing Please Don't Go Girl and he got down on his knees like he did on the Pay-per-View special in the late 80s, I seriously thought I might faint. :) I had to ask Misty to make sure my knees didn't buckle and to catch me if I fell. :) Ah, I love them! Their dance moves were just as great as they always were, their voices were on pitch and wonderful the entire night and they made every girl in their late 20s and early 30s feel like they were teenagers again. It was a great night! AND... they played more music from their new CD and I am totally digging their new songs. I will have to go get that CD soon.
Wichita: Wednesday we headed to Wichita to see all our friends that have relocated there over the years. Everyone met us at On The Border for dinner and I couldn't have been happier. I got to see all my girls.... Shawna (who graciously let us crash at her house), Holly, Melanie, Amber, Jessica, and my sister Alicia. My cheeks and stomach hurt the next day from smiling and laughing so much. Thanks for a great time gals!!!! The Road Trip Home: It was long and we were tired. Enough said. :)

Thanks for showing us a great time everyone! We appreciate and love all of you and we can't wait until next time we see you!

Your love is like bad medicine

Bad medicine is what I need

Whoa, oh, oh

Shake it up just like bad medicine

There ain't no doctor that can cure my disease

My kitty Jada is sick. The vet said she has a bacteria infection in her colon and her teeth and gums are infected and need a good cleaning. I feel like the worst cat momma ever for not realizing her teeth were so bad.

Anyway, I have to give her pills and it is not pleasant. I have a very lovable and sweet kitty, but she is also very sneaky and evasive at times. Many lessons have already been learned in this "Operation Pill Drop" process.

Lesson 1: Trying to hide the pill in soft food does not work. Jada licks around the pill and then looks up at me like "what?" All I can do is laugh because she is so matter of fact about it; like she knows she just tricked me.

Lesson 2: It is impossible to just hold her and try to open her mouth and place the pill on the back of her throat. She wiggles around like a freakin' worm and her head twists all around like something on the Exorcist.

Lesson 3: Be prepared for some dirty cat looks and a ton of fur flying around if you get some of the pill on her tongue and she gets a taste of the nasty pill. I was cleaning up slobber all over the place this morning from that experience and the looks she was giving me.... wwhhheeww... she was not happy with me at all. If only I could explain to her that if I put it on the back on her throat she swallow and she doesn't even have to taste it.

Lesson 4: Trying to hide the food in a Pill Pocket (a treat the vet gave me with a special spot inside for the pill) does not work either. She eats the treat and spits out the pill and looks up with me with the same look from lesson 1.

Lesson 5: The handy-dandy pill gun they gave me works pretty well if you have 20 minutes of time to actually get her to sit still for at least 5 seconds and then get her mouth open and shoot the pill inside before she bites you. I wasn't even that good at it because this is when the slobber came about because she tasted it. I have discovered that it would be easier if Jared helped me hold her head but he was sleeping and I didn't wanna wake the beast. :)

So, needless to say, my child is not only a pain in the neck, but also quite expensive. The things I do for this little ball of fur that I love. :) Oh, I can't wait to have children... at least I am getting good practice.

Thriller....

Thriller nights

And no one's gonna save you from the beast about to strike

You know its Thriller, Thriller nights

You're fighting for you life inside a killer

Thriller Tonight

We attended our Halloween Bash yesterday and it was a fabulous time. The food was great, the drinks were even better and the dancing, well it was pretty awesome! But, I'll let the pictures tell the story.

The Gypsy, the Paperboy (from the Nintendo game) and the Stepford Wife. Otherwise known as Stacy, Hicks and Julie. Jared was a party pooper and didn't go :(

This gypsy knows how to bust a move :)

Takin' a break from all the dancing.

Jessica, Sandy, Me and Julie

Cause when you're a celebrity

It's adios reality
You can act just like a fool
People think you're cool
Just 'cause you're on TV
I can throw a major fit
When my latte isn't just how I like it
When they say I've gone insane
I'll blame it on the fame
And the pressures that go with
Being a celebrity
- Brad Paisley


Have I told you all that we are famous? Well, it didn't take long for us Kansans to be considered celebrities at our favorite eatery Texas Land and Cattle Company. Note: You know you are getting old when you are no longer a celebrity at the club or the bar, but instead at a family restaurant.


On Thursdays they have $2 appetizers and $2 big Bud Lights so we tend to make an appearance on Thursdays, which usually works well because we never have a lot of food on hand at the end of the week anyway. It is soooo cheap and so yummy and we know just about everyone that works there by name and have made friends with the other "usuals" that are there on Thursdays. I even booked a jewelry show with one of them!!! :) Seriously, and I know you all think I am lying, but when we walk in people notice. :) Apparently we are THAT cool. :)


Hahaha... can you tell I was stretching to find something to blog about today.

Anyways, we always have a great time conversing with local folk and making new friends at our favorite place TLC.


On to other things... are you all ready for Halloween tonight???? Julie and I bought the rest of the items needed for our costumes the other day and we are ready to roll!!! The party is Saturday so we still have time to perfect them! We just have to get the guys' costumes figured out.


Here's our ideas:

Hicks - Paperboy from the Nintendo game

Jared - A Street (black shirt, paint, toy cars)


Hicks is willing to go and is as excited as Hicksey can be :) But Jared is not to fond of dressing up. Julie is convinced she will get him into costume and to the party, but I have been TRYING to get him to dress up and enjoy Halloween for about 8 years now and he never participates. Party Pooper!!! If Julie and I can pull this off and get him dressed up as a street, or anything, it will be a great accomplishment!!!!! Wish us luck! My goal is to take pictures and actually post them, which is something I have been slacking in lately :(


Catch you all on the flip side. Be good... no toilet papering or egging guys! Leave that to the middle schoolers. :)

Home, home on the range

where the deer and the antelope play...

We're coming back to Kansas for a visit folks and we are super excited!

This trip has been in the making sense New Kids on the Block announced a concert stop in KC and Misty bought my ticket :). Thank you New Kids for helping facilitate my trip back home, haha

Our trip will be jam packed to be able to see everyone, and we hope we do get to see everyone.

Here's our schedule so you know when we will be in your area:

Saturday, November 8 - Driving all day to Tulsa
Sunday, November 9 - Tulsa
Monday, November 10 - Tulsa and then heading to Girard/Pitt area in the afternoon. (We hope to meet up with all our Pitt friends at Chatters or Del Rio that evening :) We'll keep you all informed)
Tuesday, November 11 - Jared is in Girard/Pitt and I am heading to KC for the concert.
Wednesday, November 12 - I return from KC and we head off for Wichita. (Again we hope to get everyone together in Wichita on Wednesday and/or Thursday night for dinner and to hang out)
Thursday, November 13 - Wichita
Friday, November 14 - Get up early and head to Gridley so Jared can hunt.
Saturday, November 15 - Get on the road early and head back to Indiana :(

Whew... we are gonna be tired! And, to top it all off, I have an open house for independent distributors I am doing all day on Sunday. It makes me tired just thinking about it.

Anyways, nothing really new here besides making travel plans. I am up and running on my new business and have several shows booked, several catalog shows in progress and several trade show/retail opportunities as well! YAY! I'll update you all later! :)

Have a great Monday, or at least try to. It is raining and windy and yucky here today. AARRGGHHH... I didn't even wanna get up outta bed. :(