*****NOVEMBER UPDATES*****

Well it seems like it was just Canton weekend and here it is the weekend before Thanksgiving. Lots and lots to update, so here goes.

Cliff's 26th birthday was on November 12 which was mid week this year. Two days before Cliff informed me he would be headed to Calvin, Oklahoma for work on Thursday.. So ofcourse, we all know me and yes.. I got antsy. So instead of Cliff getting his present from me and then leaving I gave to him on Monday night. HE GOT A NINTENDO WII, GAMES, HARDWARE!!!! I wasn't too involved with the playing the first night, however, the second night Cliff allowed some play time for me. I got to fish, bowls and compete in several boxing rounds. Let me just tell you.. I got into the 6 boxing matches so much that for the next 2 days my abs were SORE, yes SORE!! Crazy.. I'm a believer in the WII for getting kiddo's up and moving now.

Wednesday night, Cliffs birthday, we headed down to Fort Worth and went to Saltgrass for Cliffy's birthday. One of his favorite restaurants and what man doesn't deserve a good steak dinner for his birthday!?!?!

Thursday came and it was a sad day for me in all. I always get a little down with him leaving but I knew it would be quick and painless, other than being alone and I dislike being alone. I think I spent too much time alone as an only child or something. WHO KNOWS...

The weekend was here and lots and lots of festivities for me in store. Friday night I hung out with one of my very good friends Holly! We had a great time catching up since it had been quite some time.

Saturday I met Carla (my sister n law), Hilari (Carla's good friend) and Hilari's 2 girls (Jayden and Amaya) at ElChico for lunch. We then made a few quick stops for Grandma Jean's birthday present and then headed to the birthday party for Grandma Jean Davis. It was her 75th birthday and her children planned a surprise party for her... This was taken place at Jean's new church there in Denison, TX. Lots and lots of family and friends showed up from all over. Roni, Tawana and Sherri did a WONDERFUL job of all the planning and time put into the party. And by the way Sherri knows how to make some "incredible" shower punch!!! There were several flower arrangements on the tables and they were pretty too!!! I'm a sucker for fresh flowers!!!

SHERRI AND CRYSTAL GIVING THOSE DRILL TEAM SMILES

GRAND-KIDS AND SPOUSES WITH GRANDMA JEAN

JEAN AND HER KIDS AND SPOUSES

GRANDMA JEAN AND NICOLE POSING PRETTY

SHERRI, JEAN AND KENNY

GRANDMA AND HER BEAUTIFUL CAKE

CAKE DISPLAY

CRYSTAL AND THE SIGN SHE MADE

After the party we hung out at Rick and Roni's for a short time. Rick actually fixed my back passenger light that had burned out.. It amazes me that Cliff's light burned out and his truck is 3 years old and my car that is 6 years old is still burning fine.. Roni also gave me one of the flower arrangement that she had made and it was filled with roses, carnations and greenery.

Sunday I spend the day with my wonderful mom... We had a day that was perfect to me. We shopped a little, ate lunch at ElFenix and she allowed me to go to Sam's to stock up on a few household items Cliff and I needed. Lots and lots of laughter occured and as always its nice to spend the day with a mom that I love so very much.

Suprisingly Cliff was able to come home on Monday!!!!

PRE Birthday Weekend

Cliff's 26Th birthday celebration began this weekend... He was quite the lucky guy. Saturday my dad came over to celebrate both Cliff's birthday early and my birthday late. It was a nice visit since there were lots of changes for him to see. We loaded up and went to Ft. Worth and ate at Shady Oak's BBQ. If you have never visited.. YOU NEED TOO!! It's delicious for a sit down BBQ place. For my birthday I received a Brighton choker necklace and 17 charms and several spacers for my new necklace. Each charm represents something about me! I will post pictures, but the piece is so me! I love it!! Cliff got a gift card to Academy and also one to Cabela's. On our way back from lunch we drove around Decatur and found this old, interesting place. At one time it was the home of a very, wealthy person. Now an estate that is not allowed to be stepped on. It is called the Waggoner Estate. Beautiful and would make a great museum too. Saturday evening we joined Joe and Lilly next door and watched Tech stomp on OSU.. Pretty much a given that Tech won but enjoyed the time with our neighbors. We cooked out on the grill and Joe make chicken and pork loins. I cut up 2 huge potatoes and created a 3 cheese masterpiece from one of Cliff's grilling cookbooks!

Sunday was a very uplifting service at church. A young girl (age 23) liver is failing and only has a few hours to live. Her name is Christina. She has a young boy almost 2. He is being adopted by a church family who has tried and tried to have a child of their own. Bittersweet story overall. But I thought I would share with everyone. Shows each and everyone of us to live for today ALWAYS!!!

We spend the afternoon in Lewisville. Thought along the way my car was going to give us some problems but we made it! We stopped by Hallmark, one so that I could get Cliff a birthday card and two, a card for Grandma Davis. Cliff and I had fun looking at all the new Christmas figurines and such. I love that Cliff can enjoy Hallmark as much as I can too! We then headed to Academy!! Cliff was in HEAVEN! He had $150 to spend in 1 hour and the count was on. He found the Magellan hunting boots that his heart had desired. Tried those on and they were a future purchase. Cliff also decided to get a tree harness since he is hunting in a tree stand and though the safety would be a good idea. He also found a turkey bottle opener. It make different turkey calls and Cutter absolutely loved it.. And last but not least Cliff shared his birthday gift card with Cutter and got him a Buffalo toy with not just 1 but 5 squeakers!!!

That evening we met my mom in Denton at Master Grill. Identical to Tejas de Brazil in my opinion but WONDERFUL food!!! We had good conversation, lots of food and Cliff got some more birthday! He received some shotgun lights and a Armadillo Jalapeno Cooker from my mom. He can't wait to use both! Our birthday dessert arrived and not only did we both get Key Lime Pie, but also a Caramel cheesecake and triple chocolate cake.. They accidentally brought us both. So we took the 2ND two home for later. Mom informed me that the key lime pie tasted almost like the one from the Crow's Nest in the Cayman Islands which was always a huge hit...

The weekend is over and time to go back to the grind.. :)

Pics to come!!! Along with hopefully some soon from my DAY at the spa with my mom on my birthday!!!

The Finished Product

Well... The time has come and we are FINALLY finished with our fence!!! YAH!!!! Suprisingly enough it takes lots of $$$$ to finish the section we had left.. However, we put the garage sale money in with a little savings and poof, we were able to buy supplies!!!

The project began last Tuesday... Rick (Cliff's dad) came over... The old fence was taken down, hole digging began with post diggers and posts were set with concrete. Doesn't sound like much but just imagine digging holes in rock hard ground.. YAH TOUGH!!! I was a blessing to have Rick there to help one day and get that far along.

Wednesday began early.. I took off the rest of the week and decided I was going to help Cliff. We got all the runners complete and yes I actually carried every single one down for Cliff. Those babies are HEAVY!!!

Thursday all pickets were nailed in and I even nailed every picket from our bathroom to the front. Quite fun to operate a tool like that! I was so sore from carrying all the pickets too. Cliff would have done it the easy was and loaded them on a wheel barrel, but I decided to just carry. Gloves came in handy after a few splinters. Yes the blonde appears again in me!

Here are some pictures of the final product, along with the many picutes of Cutter get tangled in the cords every few seconds. What a stinker!

~Canton Weekend~

What a gorgeous weekend (and a tad hot on Saturday) for Canton shopping. Cliff, Roni (my mother n law) and mom all met in Canton on Saturday for a weekend in Canton. Talk about crowded... It definately was that and quite not for November 1st. But we had a great day of shopping and looking. Mom and I even got lost from Cliff and Roni towards the end of the day on Saturday. So note to self in the future have walkie talkies avalilabe when cell phones don't work. Again what would we do without our cell phones?!?!?!

We stayed the night right by the Mountain at Long Hollow Hotel. Cliff was a little leary of the place driving up but I informed him it could be too bad with all the ritzy women that stayed there 12 weekends out of the year.. We were staying in the Timberwild room.. Decked out in animal print, lions, tigers, giraffes, elephants none the less. I will say it was clean and the shower was nice and hot. We actually stayed in the room for dinner and ate a turkey sandwich from the fixings Roni brought with her. It was delicious and hit the spot after a day of walking and in the sun. We decided to go ahead and hit the mountain before the Texas vs. Tech game. It was so pretty walking around with everything lit up with strings of lights, live musics and basically walking in a mountain. We made it back to the room for the disappointing game, but it was nice to kick back too.

Sunday came quick and we found a few more good deals we couldn't resist! Cliff and I negotiatied with the iron man for 4 pieces which we were both excited about. We got a Christmas tree, Large rustic cross, horny toad and armadillo!! Woo-hoo!!! Roni hit the jackpot when she found a purple martin bird house for Bobby and Darlene.. Especially considering they are so hard to buy for.. The weekend extravaganza came to an end around noon. Cliff and I actually went back to the AC marketplace and met my mom since she really couldn't leave b/c of a house showing in Greenville at 4:00. So we had lunch at the Trolley Cafe and then hit 20 to come on home.

I found several great vendors and am going to share!!!

www.msquarejunk.blogspot.com

www.dreamscometruedecor.com

www.letteryourlegacy.com

Cutter scare

Well last week started off pretty rough.. I came home for lunch on Monday at 2:30 and Cutter didn't greet me at the garage, nor did he come to the back door. So what else was I to do than PANIC.. I called Cliff crying and upset. So I called the vet ASAP. She told me no appointments were available until the next day. So I sat there and thought a minute and was on a mission to find Cutter some help that day. I knew the emergency fee was an additional $40.00 that I didn't feel I needed to pay. So I called my personal vet back and was informed that they could get me in that day when I said I would be making an appointment else where, where I would be able to get him in that day. X-Rays were taken, bloodwork and nothing. To this day we still do not know what was going on with Cutter, but $254.00 later I am thankful to having my booty wiggling bundle of joy back home!!!