Desperately Seeking Gina

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…Maybe I’m Meant to be a SnowBunny

…because the white stuff seems to have followed me back to Arkansas. This is what I woke up to this morning. Actually, it started out as a freezing rain/sleet mixture. I felt ridiculous calling off to work….but since most things shut down during even the slightest of winter-weather phenomenons, I didn’t feel bad for long 🙂 Thom actually had to shovel the driveway in order to get to the car {he was going to the grocery store}.

So…I’m home. It was extremely hard coming back. Not that I didn’t want to come back to Thom…but leaving the fam was the bad part. I miss those guys a lot. But now that I’m home, I feel good….I missed Thom so much…and it feels tremendously good to have his arms around me once again 🙂

My two weeks in Mich went by so slowly. I enjoyed each day {well…I didn’t enjoy the funeral part, but you know what I mean}. I got my little fixes out of the way…B&N…Scribs…JoAnn Fabrics….the Mall. What I enjoyed most, though, was the craziness that is home: my family. Terry bought a house in Norton Shores, very near the Sherman WalMart and Mom & Dad are there with him. Most days I didn’t even get out of my pj’s. Mom and I just hung around the house watching TV or baking brownies {read:eating brownies}.

It’s back to the grind now: work, and laundry, and waiting for the nice weather so that Thom can show me more of Arkansas. I can’t wait to get out on the lake.

Have a great week, y’all!!
gina
** by the way…here is the link to my grandma’s life story page, if you’d like to take a look!**

…My Novel, a first draft.

Went through some items Grandma had earmarked for my Dad & Mom. There were a few things labeled for me, including this sheet of paper; it’s a story I had written. There’s no date, but obviously, I was fairly young, as I’d like to think my writing skills have improved somewhat …not to mention originality. Apparently I had just read about the lady who lived in the shoe or something because the two stories sound a lot alike 🙂

Also, found on Grandma’s dresser was an old, yellowed envelope with my name on it. And inside? 5 Silver dollars dated 71-74. Mom laughed and said she couldn’t believe Grandma had saved them. Seems I was pretty young when my Mom’s Uncle Jacob and Aunt Viola gave me the coins when we visited them in Detroit. Grandma bought them from me and kept them all these years.

Grandma did such a good job labeling pictures and saving articles about our family. It really is nice to look back and read about what was going on.

g

…Vacay Continued

Still staying up way too late. I’ll never be able to answer the 5 am wake up when it is time to go back to work {the worst of all 4 letter words!}. Mom and I have been hanging out together. I’m finding it hard to do anything else. I just want to be with my Mom. We’ve been playing a lot of Scrabble. Well..she’s been playing..,and beating the pants off me. Hrrrmmmpphh.

We spent a really nice day shopping together. The morning started off at Barnes & Noble where I picked up the newest release from my favoritest Chick Lit author, Sophie Kinsella. I’ve read the first chapter…and it’s pretty good so far. I can’t decide if I want to finish the other two books I started or if I should just read this one first. Thanks to my good friend Heather and a nice little gift card she sent for Christmas, I was able to purchase the book, two Grande Toasted Marshmallow Cocoas {espresso for me, plain for Mom} and a frosted Cinnamon Bun for the both of us. Thanks Heather….we enjoyed it all 🙂

Next, we visited my friends at the Norton Shores store…nice to visit with Lisa, Carla, Jane, and Dave. Then there was a quick stop at the bank to visit “the girls” with whom I did the store’s banking on a daily basis. Funny how you get to know the tellers in just a few minutes daily, over a 10 year period!

Lastly, Mom and I stopped at Jo Ann’s to use our 40% and 50% coupons. Shopping is so much more justifiable when you have coupons to use 😉

And now…I’m waiting for Tyler to return from his Dr.’s appointment so we can hang out together this evening. There will be hot cocoa upon his return, pizza for dinner, and American Idol watching while playing cards, or Scrabble, or his new obsession: Monopoly {or MonPlay, as he calls it}.

It’s SO good to be home.

Hugs.
g

….Weekend Update

Still nothing new to report. Still enjoying some time off work. Enjoying hanging out with Mom and the fam. Had an impromtu Girls night Friday night. There was wine, Tonk {card game}, lotsa food, and muchMuch laughter.

I’m loving staying up late. Been up past 1am a few times this week. Surfing the net. Looking at pics on Mom’s computer. Here are a couple from last summer that I don’t think I ever shared. Mom had asked me to take the kids down to the beach to do a little “shoot” with them. She wanted good pics to blow up and frame. It was pretty windy this day…and way too sunny to get good pics. Scott, Jenn, and Mom were behind me holding up a huge umbrella trying to give us some sun-blockage. Did it work? Not so much. But the one with the really, really blue sky and sunburst is a fave of mine.


Hope y’all are having a really good weekend.

Hug someone today,
g

…First day of Vacay

So now that the funeral is over I can really begin vacation. There’s nowhere to be…and nothing to do that I don’t necessarily have to do. Nice feeling. Today I crossed off my list a couple of the things that were “must do” priorities. Lunch at Panera {have you tried the creamy vegetarian tomato soup-YUM}. Visiting with Cousin {Lois}. And a visit to my old store. Wow, is it tiny. And cramped. I was walking around the lounge looking at some of the signs I had posted. My handwriting still on posters. {sigh} Yes…I’m a nerd. But it was nice to see some sign of me still there 🙂

Also stopped by Meijer to look for some shoes. Have you checked out the shoe department lately? The quality of their shoes has certainly improved….and last Sunday, they had a super sale…buy one get one for $1…plus the shoes were 25% off. Sadly, no deals to be had today. By the way. No Meijer in Arkansas 🙁 Mr. Meijer…if you’re reading this {don’t laugh…it could happen} You’d give that old W store a run for their money. Please, Please bring Meijer to Arkansas.

So…Michigan is on it’s way to having the 2nd snowiest winter, or something like that. Yuck. I don’t miss it. This is what the parking lot of Lakeshore Marketplace.

I’m calling it Snow Mountain…and their was an entire range of them throughout the lot. I haven’t seen that much snow in the ten+ years I worked there. {The pic is from my camera phone..that’s why it’s probably blurry}

Happy Hump Day….

g