I’m not scared to admit my little confessions…

Really…

I’ve already talked about my crush on Blake… (which, by the way, I get to go see him live a month from tomorrow… )

And I’ve talked about how I have the Cheetah Girls on my iPod….

And toady? I’m going to share a new one….

You know those Disney Channel Original Movies?

The cheesy ones where the girl always gets the cute guy in the end? They’re always about middle schoolers or highschoolers?

Yeah, those…

I like them.

I really do.

But I didn’t realize how much I liked them until I saw a promo for a movie Wednesday night, rushed out to the DVR and recorded it and then proclaimed to the kidlets that I was not working after football practice and that we would be parking our butts on the couch, eating popcorn while we watched “Stuck in the Suburbs”.

Their response?

“Mom! We’ve already seen it a gazillion times….” I guess I had a dissappointed look on my face because immediately they said, “But we’ll watch it again.”

And so we did…

And I enjoyed it… alot.

And I’m throughly looking forward to the premiere of High School Musical 2 that premieres a week from today…

Until next time…

Heather

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…or so Kevin said…

Sunday morning we woke up to rain… actually, I woke up in the middle of the night when it started… I was wondering if the tent would leak… so I didn’t sleep well…

I was up early and Kevin and I had coffee while the others started to wake up… weather.com said the rain was to start at 10am… we decided East Sparta, OH is in a different time zone…

originally, we were going to make pancakes, but with all of us in the dining tent because of the rain, it was a little difficult to cook and hang out in there… so we decided (when the rain stopped for a bit) that we would make pie irons…

now pie irons are new to me… but you make little pizza pockets and pies in this little contraption over the fire…

Here’s Terry demonstrating…

Well… about halfway through the rain started again….

and I have to tell you, Jim and Kevin stepped up to the plate… they kept that fire going… in the rain… so we could all eat… (They also kept it going all day… in the rain…)

And oh did it rain….

The genius I am remembered we had ponchos after everyone was soaked… and I pulled them out… then realized they were both youth ponchos… I wore it anyway…

And poor Sam thought she would melt in the rain….

But we ate….

When we were done… Matthew, Brennan and I headed to the Hall of Fame…

and apparently it rained all day there as well…

So they played games and went to the game room…

and purchased a tarp for the Mansion (Becki and Dale’s tent) since it leaked…

and dried clothes from said Mansion….

and Becki made the BEST white chicken chilli I have ever had… ok, so it was the only that I’ve ever had… but I want more… Maybe she’ll post the recipe on her blog?

When we got back from the Hall of Fame… the kids were just anxious… wouldn’t you be if you had been cooped up from the rain?

So we sent them off to play…

and boy did they play….

After the played, we cleaned them up and the sun started to come out… it didn’t completely come out but it did stop raining….

And we enjoyed the rest of the evening…

Around 11 we checked weather.com again to see if it was going to rain some more…

It said that we were due for severe storms, including strong winds and hail and we all went to bed not knowing what the night would bring…

I think God knew we had had enough, because not one drop fell during the night…and we were ever so grateful…

and if the amount of rain is indicative of the amount of fun you have… then the rain said we had a blast…

Until next time…

Heather

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As I said before… Ohio will never be the same again… especially the little town of Bolivar…population just under 1,000…

Let me tell you how it went down…

We noticed in the cooler that we might run out of beverages before the weekend was done…so Yvonne and I decided that we were going to run into town and get some more (because they don’t sell beverages of the adult variety on Sundays)… we decided just to hit a gas station and since I came in a different way from anyone else, I wanted to show Yvonne the cute little town that I drove through when I got off the interstate.

And let me tell you, it was so cute… like something from a movie… small town America… I just wanted to stop and knock on a door and tell them how neat their little street was… don’t worry, I didn’t….

So Yvonne and I were admiring the little houses when we hit the intersection… the sole traffic light in the town… there was a gas station and a Dairy Queen.

As we pulled into the gas station I look over and see a sign that says “Beer, Wine, & Spirits” and there was a car pulling into it… I looked at Yvonne and she looked at me and I yelled “It’s a drive through… we so have to go over there…”

So we headed over there…

We pulled in and the guy asked us what we wanted… we couldn’t remember what Terry said to get so Yvonne, the brilliant business owner that she is, says “It’s in a green bottle, does that help”
I
He tells us (and I don’t remember his name, but he looked like a Dennis) to get out and come look…. now, let me tell you, if you’re not familiar with Drive Thru’s, you’re not supposed to get out… they bring it to you. But we got out and recognized Terry’s beer and got some more and decided to head home. As soon as we pulled out of the drive through we realized that we needed to stop and get Coke and I told Yvonne that the drive through had it…

We decided to swing around and go through again… but before we did… you know we took a picture…

So when we pulled back in “Dennis” just started to chuckle.. I explained that we forgot the coke and how we just thought that the drive through was sooooo cool…. he said that people take pictures all the time and I piped up “We did that when we pulled back around…”

“Dennis” said… “Get out and I’ll take your picture…”

And you know we did….

Driving back, we saw a little sign that said “Business District” so Yvonne asked if we could take a little detour… well, you know me… i’m always up for an adventure and I knew what road that we needed to take to get back to the campground…

we turned onto Canal Street and saw the cutest little cafe…

I stopped in the middle of the street…

We drove just a little further when Yvonne saw the Post Office… I pulled onto a little side street and we got out to take a picture of Yvonne under the sign…

About that time two men were walking up the street and asked “Why are you taking pictures of Bolivar?”

I looked at him like the answer was obvious… “Well, because we’re not from around here and she’s from Canada (as I pointed to Yvonne) and your town is just so cute.”

He looked at me funny but then said… “You see that little bar down there on the corner?”

We looked down the street and nodded…

“Well about 20 years ago the owner of the bar, Marvin, got involved with the mob. He was smuggling cigarettes in from Canada and one day decided he didn’t want to be involved with the mob anymore. They found him dead at 7am one morning… he was executed. They say it happened at 3 in the morning, but it happened right outside the bar… on the sidewalk.”

My eyes lit up… because you know, I’m all about learning about murders and this one happened right here in this little town… how cool!

“Really?” I asked.

“Sure,” he said…”Now you have to come down and take a picture of Rocky’s.”

We started to walk down the street and the other guy walked up to him and said, “what are you telling them?”

“About Marvin and the mob he responded… twenty years ago.”

“Oh it wasn’t that long ago,” Man 2 said… “Because I got out of the service 10 years ago and hung out there with Marvin.”

Whatever… some dude was murdered right here in front of Rocky’s! Who cares when it happened?

As we were walking, Man 1 said that I could lay down right where Marvin lay dead to get my picture taken. I was all over it.

We got there and I asked where Marvin was slain….

Man 1 showed me and I asked “Face down?”

“Oh face up… he rolled over”

So there I laid… right where Marvin was executed sometime in the last 10-20 years… and Yvonne snapped the picture…

I was tickled when I got back up… I laid right where an ex-Mobster was killed… who else can say that?

Man 1 told me… “You can go on our newspaper website and look it up… Times Reporter.. and read all about it.”

We thanked him for his time and all giddy walked back to the car. We couldn’t wait to get back to the campground and tell the others and look up the story of Marvin.

We got back and told them all about the drive through and Marvin.

All night we talked about Marvin…

We talked about Marvin all during Kareoke…

yes! We kareoked…more on that later….

Back at the campsite… we roasted marshmallows to make s’mores… (I make the best marshmallows…)

and we talked about Marvin… again….

We got out the laptop and searched….

we searched everywhere… all the search engines we could find and all the key phrases that we could think of….

we never learned the story about Marvin…

Which leads me to believe that there are two men in Bolivar who got a big kick out of the little girl from Roanoke, VA who willingly laid on the sidewalk outside Rocky’s Tavern and believed the story of Mobster Marvin…

but that’s okay…

It’s a good story for the blog….

And we’ll remember it forever…

Until next time…

Heather

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Ohio will never be the same…

Seriously…

today we resorted to stealing ice… well, when I say we, I mean me and Kevin… and I don’t think we were really stealing it… but we needed ice for the beer adult beverage cooler so… when we saw that they just threw it out on the grass… and alot of it, Kevin and I scooped it up. We can’t figure out why they threw it out…I mean, it’s ice….

it wasn’t melted or anything…

but today we spent alot of the day at the pool, because as I may have mentioned… it’s hot… but after the pool, it’s not so bad…

Patty, Steve, and Matthew left today to go home and we miss them already… and Patty… Terry’s mad because you didn’t say goodbye…

But before Patty left, we asked our neighbor if he would come over and take a group picture.. I’m sure he thinks that we’re nuts because after he took 5,000 pictures and enlisted the help of his wife, we gave him a round of applause. It’s the least we can do… I’m sure we were loud last night…

Right now, while the men are grilling, we’re swapping pictures… because I wanted to share with you…

Patty and Steve

Our dining tent… We combined two tents to make one big one (and it’s currently where I’m blogging)

Dale taking a picture of Terry….

Terry taking a picture of Dale… (yes, we’re THAT grown up!)

Terry’s campsite

The Weld’s site….

Jim, Yvonne and Me….

Dale and Becki

The Mansion… where the Noles are staying….

Our tent…

Now just for the record, the Noles and I are sharing a campsite… it’s also where the dining tents are… the Green’s and the Weld’s are right across the street… we are a siight let me tell you…

And today, Yvonne was the rebel and broke in to the cooler first… and we all followed…

We even got Dale to lighten up….

Yes, Ohio will never be the same…

Gotta jet… dinner’s ready… yum!

Until next time…

Heather

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were you sitting there wondering?

Yes, we’re all here…

There are 15 of us in all…. 9 adults and 6 kids… and man! Are we having fun?

Let me make this brief… because I’m getting flack about sitting around the campfire and blogging, but I don’t want to forget these moments…

the ones that included Terry switching campsites four times before settling on the right one… all of the women going to walmart…leaving the men with the children….

but we’re here…

I actually started this last night but then it started to rain a little bit… so I shut down… we got all the stuff put away… and then it stopped… but it was 12:30… probably God trying to tell us to go to bed…

Right now, it’s just before lunch time and there are 5 of us sitting here with laptops… but we’re NOT WORKING… that was the one rule… no working…

so we’re blogging, most of us…

The kids have been exploring and we’ve all been laughing and having a great time…

But now, it’s time for lunch… and once we eat lunch, then we get to go to the pool… because I have to tell you… it’s HOT!

Yvonne keeps telling me it’s 24 at her house…. and I keep thinking that’s cold…. but really, she’s in Celsius…

of course, I keep forgetting that she’s from Canada… yesterday we were talking about conversion rates and she said that they bought $300 and it cost her $320 Canadian… and I yelled… “oh! I forgot that you needed to get real money!”

But then her husband (who’s a RIOT!) started in about how boring our money was…. and then they showed me their money…. and it IS pretty…. we need to get with the times and make ours a little bit prettier….

Ok, lunch time.. I’ll be back later…

Until next time…

Heather (and the gang)… you know kinda like cool and the gang? except it’s not cool, really…. and we can’t sing like that….

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There are certain things in life that make me happy and that I am very attached to…

Little things…not anything earth shattering to normal people… but to me, they are things that make my life a little better…

Like… my favorite jeans (of which, I did buy a new pair but I don’t LOVE them… so I’m still on the quest…)

Sitting in the dark on my front porch listening to the rain…

My favorite blue felt tips pens that I stumbled upon in the desk of a departed co-worker while in Missouri the last time…

and my desk lamp…

Ah… my desk lamp…

I can’t count the times that she’s been with me in the wee hours of the morning working so as to not disturb the rest of the house or the nights that she’s spent with me working on long projects that I had to push on with to meet deadlines…

or the times that it’s been rainy and dark during the day and she’s provided a bit of extra comfort…

when i’m sitting in the living room the glow of just my desk lamp is so inviting…

but tonight she went dark…

i flipped the switch back and forth and back and forth… pounded on her bulbs trying to resuscitate her… but she just wouldn’t flicker…. it seemed that he life had been sucked out of her…

I started to panic… she can’t be gone I thought… i must work tonight and the overhead light is just so harsh… i can’t work with out her….

i remembered how I felt the last time she lost her glow… how for two weeks I frantically sought a replacement for her… or at least a new bulb transplant… to no avail… she’s not made anymore… and her bulbs could not be found… at least not for me…

and then i remembered what happened the last time she was dark… after two weeks of no little lamp to keep me going I got Matthew’s bed side lamp to hold me over until I could adequately replace her….

I crawled underneath the desk, amidst the mass of cords and wires searching for her plug to permanently remove her and empower her temporary replacement when I realized that she was already unplugged…

I plugged her back in and she shone brightly… she was back….

so again, tonight, i ventured into the dust and wires and cords under my desk… i located the power strip where she should be planted and realized…. someone pulled the plug!

But she’s back now… and I can work… and all is right in the world again…

ah… it’s the little things, ya know?

Please tell me you have an item like this that you’re associated with… so I don’t feel as dorky… that I am writing about my love affair with my lamp…

Until next time…

Heather

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If you’re not a great cook… you panic…

As in you ask yourself over and over and over again WHY you did this…

But the invitation was extended and I followed through….

After all the suggestions (and thank you all for that), I ended up with wheat free lasagna, texas toast, and salad…

and there was dessert…

the house was relatively picked up… and the kids helped… er… sorta…

but as usual, I was at the grocery store at 4 because i needed the salad mix, salt and the toast… so we’re rushing home to get the lasagna in the oven by 5… so that it would be ready by 6 and darned if we didn’t almost do it …

(it doesn’t really matter because the men were late… go figure….)

and there were two phone calls… one to my mother to ask her if i covered the lasagna and one to Dale and Becki to ask how I knew it was done…

yeah, I know… i’m retarded…

but you know what?

it all worked out…

and after we stuffed ourselves, we sat in the living room while Samara played Dance Mania… and then I had to beat her… because i’m like that…

all in all… it was great… and i’m not so nervous about having people over anymore… and i just lost any “i can’t cook” excuse that i ever had… because everthing was darn near perfect…

(except we couldn’t find the salt that we had just bought… but if that’s the worst thing that happens, we’re blessed….)

oh! i forgot to mention Samara’s dessert.. she made cookies and cream pudding, but because Anchorman (the intern) gets headaches from chocolate, she made him a white cake with white icing… and it was beautiful…

she was so proud of it, that we took pictures….

and it WAS a good cake… not that i would know, because you know, I’m wheat free and all…

ok, so i had a bite…

and now it’s over… and i’ve got a podcast to record with Nell for MomsBlogging.com!

Until next time…

Heather

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91%How Addicted to Blogging Are You?

Is there a 12-step program that I should be looking for?

Step 1. Admitted that we have no control over blogging and our lives have become unmanageable….

No… see my life isn’t unmanageable….

isn’t the first sign of an addiction denial?

Until next time…

Heather

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I can’t believe that I’ve not blogged about this yet…

Well, yes I can… it was a little crazy around here this week with the Dog Days of Summer Giveaways!

But I am very excited about our upcoming vacation!

Friday morning the kids and I are headed to Canton, OH on a 4 day camping trip…

Most people would probably wonder why we’re headed 6 hours away to go camping when there are fabulous spots right here in SWVA….

The reason? Because it’s the halfway point between Roanoke, VA and London, Ontario… you know… Canada?

Because, my good online buddy Yvonne lives in Canada and we’ve been talking about making this trip forever and we finally made it happen….

I met Yvonne through my business… she has her own business and works at home and I adore her… that and she’s got that nifty Canadian accent, eh?

So the two of us with our children were going to meet up and have fun together for a long weekend… me, Yvonne… four kids ranging from 6-10… cool, no?

But then… some of the other business owners we know caught wind of it…

Terry is about an hour away, so she’s coming over with her husband…

Becki and Dale are about 6 hours, too, but in Pennsylvania and they are coming over…

and then, much to our shock, Patty said she and her hubby and their son are coming too!!!!!

So now we have 9 adults and 6 kiddos and we’re going to have a blast!!!

Now, I’ve met Terry before at a conference… and Becki and Dale are my bestest friends (but I met them online too)…

but Yvonne and Patty? Never met them before… so this is going to rock! And I can cross them off my list of things to do before I’m 40…. err…. that didn’t come out quite right, but you know what I mean… meeting them was on my list of things to do…

All week we’ve been IM’ing with “8 more sleeps” or “7 more wake ups” because they talk different in Canada…

But one week from today, I’m going to be lounging at the campground with all of my buds while the kids all go and play and make new friends from all over the country… or maybe Saturday will be the day that I take Matthew to the NHL football Hall of Fame… (because you know I’m oh-so-excited about that….)

but life will be good…

because I NEED to get away…

and don’t worry… I’ll blog with pictures…

because today’s campground? Yeah, they have wireless internet…

I halfway wonder if we’ll all sit there with out laptops chatting on Skype because that’s what we’re so used to doing…lol

But it’s going to be fun… and I’m excited… and so I’ll get back to work… because there’s only 6 more wakeups….

Until next time…

Heather

PS. This is the FIRST vacation the kids and I have ever taken without my parents (minus our local camping trips)… and that’s a great feeling for me…

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My mother forwarded this to me today and I was blown away…

I’m sure you’ve all seen it already… I’m always behind the times… but anywho… check it out and be amazed….

1. Grab a calculator. (you won’t be able to do this one in your Head)
2. Key in the first three digits of your phone number (NOT the Area code)
3. Multiply by 80
4. Add 1
5. Multiply by 250
6. Add the last 4 digits of your phone number
7. Add the last 4 digits of your phone number again.
8. Subtract 250
9. Divide number by 2

Do you recognize the answer ??

Until next time…

Heather

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