Joy!

Ok, I so laughed when I found this picture of a GUY wearing this shirt!  Live!  Love!  Laugh!  Scrapbook!

Tonight my sister flies in from Washington and tomorrow we leave for four days of scrapping in the pines of Northern Arizona.  It calms my soul and brings peace to my heart as I anticipate our next four days of relaxation.  Yes, we go twice a year.  Yes, we stay in a 1970s decorated cabin.  Yes, someone cooks and cleans for us.  Yes, we just stay in the cabin and scrapbook.  But we also leave once in a while for a hike or two… and we watch movies.  Girlie movies with love and romance and laughter and bliss.  See why I like this outing so much?  And we laugh.  Til we cry.  And then we laugh some more.  It’s basically an emotional release weekend without hubbies or kids.

This year I am prepared to work on a 2009 family album.  I usually do “event” albums of Christmas, or one holiday or vacation.  But I figured out that I don’t have the day-to-day photos in a book for all to see.  So I printed about 27 hundred photos from 2009 and I already made the first double page spread of each month.  I’m SO ready!

But first I have to unpack my suitcase… and wash my favorite comfy clothes.  Then re-pack my suitcase. 

I’ve given up making menus for my family for the time I’m away…. it seemed the more effort I put into making meals, schedules, grocery shopping, etc…. the more often the family went out to eat.  So now, I do nothing, other than replenishing the fruit bowl before I leave.  (I did that yesterday.) 

I will take my laptop, so I may blog, but no promises from this girl.  Nope.  There is only internet service if you drive to the front of the campground and sit in this one spot.  And even then, it’s iffy.  So, as I said, no promises.

Have a grand weekend.  I will.

The Buffalo Chip in Cave Creek, AZ

Well, ya never what might happen when it’s a girls night out in Phoenix.  Last time me and my peeps went out, we sat in a Mexican restaurant and talked for hours.  That’s it.  Just talked.  The girls were helping me with the end of my marriage book by feeding me real-life stories from their own marriages to get my memory working.  It’s been months since Donna, Missy, Patty and I have been out together…. until last night. 

Again, we ate Mexican as El Encanto (Uno, not Dos) and then Donna, the entertainment director of the bunch, took us to the Buffalo Chip for some bull riding festivities.  It was hilarious… I think we were the only four not drinking beer and still having a great time.  We sucked in the dust.  We sang at the top of our lungs, “I’ve got friends in low places.”  We cheered for the golden boy named Pretty Boy, even though he needed some anger management classes.  We shook the bugs out of our shirts and bras.  (Seems that we sat right under the light from where the bugs start their dive-bombs.)

They have a live video camera in the bull chute so we could watch the cowboys (and Indians) tighten their ropes and get ready to ride.  My personal favorite was a guy named Bubba who has a small hole in his Wranglers in an extremely precarious location.  Adding to this dilemma, he was on an ornery bull that kept squatting down in the shoot and Bubba had to do lots of kicking and pushing to get the bull up and ready to rock and roll.  Sad part was, the camera was perfectly positioned to document aforementioned Wrangler hole as it continued to expand.  The G-rated bull riding activity was quickly progressing through PG and PG-13 until my eyes were closed.

In the photo above, you’ll notice the announcer’s shack on the right.  Well, Mr Bo-Jangles was having a humdinger time announcing until all of a sudden his shack went black and his mic went silent.  We could hear him yelling “The plug!  The plug!”  Yes, his entire announcing shack’s electrical was run by an orange extension cord around the bull pen to a plug on a light pole.  Someone stepped on it twice while we were there.  So rinky-dinky, it made me laugh.

Anyway, a great time was had by all.  And the Indian was the current winner when we left after round two.  Round three didn’t start until 10:45 and we were officially done at 10:15.  Thanks, Girls!