Happy Birthday Granny!

Well it is Labor Day, and I am off from work today, so I am going to make a great effort to get caught up on the blog for the 3-4 of you who actually still read it (I think just family members at this point). I am going to work my way backwards on all our trips, starting with this weekend. We were in Knoxville Saturday and Sunday. On Saturday we met James' sisters and their families, where we visited one of our customers' newest locations, in Knoxville (Newk's). We all had a nice dinner of pizzas, salads, and sandwiches, and then all bowled for a few hours. Everyone had a lot of fun hopefully.

James and I were staying out in West Knoxville, and our hotel was surprisingly quiet that Saturday evening. That's because everyone staying there was at the University of Tennessee's home opener. UT won 50-0 against UT-Martin. Smooth sailing for the first game of the year for the Vols. Sadly it was not on TV, so we weren't able to watch any of it. The next morning we ate at the cute little place below, Mimi's Cafe, which was decorated inside as though it were an establishment in New Orleans. Very cute. The food was good as well, and we brought home a free package of their gigantic homemade muffins, because James did a phone survey while we were still sitting in the restaurant.

But Sunday afternoon was the real purpose of the visit with the family, to celebrate the 93rd birthday of James' grandmother Juanita. I put James to work right away once we got to his parents' house, digging up bulbs which his mom said I could have. I brought home iris, daffodils, peonies, and day lilies, as well as tomatoes and green peppers from their garden. We brought home a few antiques from their shed as well, which we plan to clean up and display in our own home. Then it was time to eat!! James' mom Carol fixed a wonderful dinner for all 12 of us, which included chicken casserole, baked pasta, okra, beans, and lots of great food which we all enjoyed.

Granny received a lot of nice gifts, including gift cards, candles, CD's, and a spinner for her garden. We all indulged in coconut cream pie, red velvet cake, and ice cream while we sang Happy Birthday and of course, MANY MORE for Granny! After that, everyone went outside to pick pears from the trees in the yard (I plan to make pear sauce with mine like I did the last time I brought home my bounty.) The weather was gorgeous, in fact they had a record low in Knoxville that morning, 52. Fall is definitely coming soon. And the Truan house is a perfect place to enjoy it with everyone.

Comments

I'm at work right now, so this is a quick note. I have put the comments back on my blog, I got reports from others that when I locked it down, they could not leave comments at all. So I will just accept the fact that I am going to get spam comments, and I will just delete them, for the waste of space that they are!!

Working about 15 hours of OT this week, hope to blog "for real" over the weekend!! Take care all!

Where Did July Go??

Oh my goodness, time is just zipping by, and I haven't blogged "for real" in it seems like a million years. I have trips from May and June I haven't even posted about, and now July is about gone! I continue to work at the office about 10-15 extra hours every week, and I promise I only sit down at the home computer for about five minutes a week, enough to delete all the 300 junk emails from my inbox. I continue to neglect the homefront in all areas- my vegetable plants have withered away, and I am looking out the window now to see a sadly disappointed hummingbird hovering around the empty feeder. I'm surprised we have any clean underwear, I stay so far behind on the housework.

But I do not complain about work, I simply apologize for both of my blogs drying up like my flowers out front are doing. I love my job, and I work at it with much enthusiasm and pride, and in the back of my mind I am just happy to know that with every hour of overtime worked, my 401K grows by that much more. James and I are devoted to our company, as you can see from the photo above- an afternoon on the Florida trip briefly interrupted by very important business. At least it was a scenic background.

Perhaps I will find a quiet few hours on Sunday to catch up, because in no time at all, we will be heading off to the Caribbean for our (mostly) yearly cruise, and I will have tons of photos from that I'm sure.

And I am going to have to lock down my comments to only those who are members of the blog, I am tired of coming on here and erasing dozens of spam comments. So sorry for the inconvenience, for the 3 or 4 of you who still read the blog.

Cheers, and I will catch up on here as soon as I can!!!!!!!!!

Stop It!!

Oh my crap, does anyone know how to stop these crazy spam comments on the blog? These people are making me nuts, I am spending more time deleting their stupid wasteful comments than I am reading actual ones from friends and family. I do not want to put restrictions on here, but come on people, stop leaving comments that are junk!!

In other more pleasant news, please see the photo below from our trip to Florida last month. Here is proof that yes, there is still beautiful crystal clear water and beaches on the Gulf! Please visit!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

What the Who?

No, I haven't blogged yet about our trip to Florida, but here is just one photo I wanted to share today, because it makes me laugh. From our family outing to Tarpon Springs on our last day there. James pointed it out, we are always on the look out for crazy signs.

I've never met a public sponge. Or have I? Hhhmmm.

Go here to learn about Tarpon Springs.

Jessica and Justin

We had a lot of fun on Monday, our day off from work for the holiday. James' niece Jessica, and her fiance Justin came to visit us for the day. Although they both live in Knoxville, with a menagerie almost as large as ours, Justin is currently in Atlanta. He's interning with a large accounting firm in downtown, and staying at the dorms at Emory University. Jessica is on break from her massage therapy school right now, and was down to visit with him.

They made the hour trek south to Newnan to see us, and we had a great day with them. We gave them a "quick" tour of downtown Newnan. Quick because downtown is a one-block square wrapped around the old courthouse. We had lunch at our favorite destination where we take all of our guests- The Redneck Gourmet.



Then we all went bowling, where we managed to squeeze in four games in two hours. Jessica and Justin both bowled their personal high scores, while James put us all to shame, and then showed off his famous between-the-legs shots. James and I used to bowl a lot when we were dating, and in fact James bowled in a league when we were first married. Now we bowl here and there, but not regularly. But we had so much fun with Jessica and Justin on Monday, James and I went bowling again last night! And this morning I bought my own pair of bowling shoes online! After all, my hubby the semi-pro has his own shoes and ball, I'm going to have to start keeping up with him if we go more often.

We hope that Jessica and Justin will come visit us again. They are getting married next summer, and they have been together for a few years now. We enjoyed being with them and they were great to hang out with! We just hope they enjoyed hanging out with old farts like us!

(Apologies for my bare feet, I didn't realize they would show when I took this photo!!!)

Happy 4th!

Just a quick Happy 4th of July to everyone! We are enjoying our three day weekend at home. James has been busy both yesterday and today, painting the garage with his famous black and white racing flag design. I have had a completely lazy weekend of shopping, working on my tan, and coloring my hair almost black- my natural color that I haven't seen in decades! Not sure it's very flattering, but eh, I wanted to do something different.

Tomorrow James' niece Jessica and her husband-to-be Justin will be here for the day to visit. Justin is interning this summer with a company in Atlanta, and Jessica is down for the week to spend time with him. We will probably drive them around Newnan, take them by the place of business, and settle in for lunch or dinner at a local restaurant. We should have fun and anticipate seeing them and spending the day with them.

No fireworks in the plans for us tonight, except what we can see off our back deck that our neighbors are shooting off. In Atlanta they have the biggest fireworks show in the Southeast, but also the biggest crowds as well. Not for us.

Hope everyone enjoys the holiday and has a great time tonight!

Back In Business!

Hi all! I'm back on the blog after some technical difficulties. I am way behind on posts, but hope to catch up this week. I was in the middle of posting from Memorial Weekend when I got sidetracked, that's how badly I'm behind!

I was having issues on the blog, you may or may not have noticed. My fun pictures and links on my sidebar had all disappeared. I finally have figured out the problem and fixed it, so everything is back in place again. Apparently over on my Google account, in my photo albums, several weeks ago I "locked" my albums to make them private and require permission to view them. I guess that is where Blogger is pulling the photos from, because when I locked the albums, Blogger didn't have access to the photos and removed them all from my blog. Who knew! But, I figured it out tonight and unlocked everything.

James and I just got back from a week in Florida (above) and a nice visit with my folks, so I will post photos from there shortly, as soon as I finish up my backlog of other posts.

Chat with you all soon!

Priorities

So here is how our Sunday went. First we stopped at the farm and feed store, where we got five bags of deer corn, five bags of bird seed, and a new cat toy. Then next it was the pet store, where we bought two bags of cat food, and a new bird feeder. Then, finally, we got to Publix to buy our groceries for the week.....

Tuscany In Atlanta

Today we were back up in Atlanta, in the Dunwoody and Sandy Springs area, where we had to pick up our wedding rings from a jeweler (more later). It was lunch time when we got up there, so we stopped at Brio. Yes, Brio is a chain restaurant, but for Italian food just a step above the very average Olive Garden or Carrabba's, give this "Tuscan grille" a try.





This particular location, in the Perimeter area, features outdoor seating looking out over a small pond. Lots of Canada geese with their young ones all gliding across the water, and a huge heron flew overhead at one point. But the highlight for me was the family of ducks- mom, dad, and these oh-so-cute fuzzy babies (not my cutely manicured feet), who were all waddling up and down the patio, hoping for crumbs. I'm not sure James, who is always thinking about food safety, really enjoyed having the wildlife so close to his brunch. But I loved them.





We had a wonderful meal, with the beautiful scenery and perfect weather to enjoy. The restaurant even had several bocce ball courts outside. I confess, I'm Italian, but I don't know how to play. I'm sure my grandfather, who came over here through Ellis Island, probably played.





And so, here is proof of how the other half lives, and how I knew we were in the hoity-toity section of ATL. Below, I thought this was perhaps an enormous financial institution like a swanky bank or insurance company, or at least some very fancy offices. No, it's self storage. If you don't believe me, see the photo below this. I have never seen a "self storage" center that looked like this! We have the long row of concrete barracks with pull down garage doors in our neck of the woods.





And we came home to find our first lily of the season has bloomed. If you read my blog last year, you know I planted A LOT of bulbs, and I had a dozen variety and different colors of lilies in our front yard. I can't wait to have more blooming soon.



And so to the reason for our trip way up to that part of the city. Yesterday we had to take my engagement ring to get it repaired, as the part of the ring that holds the diamond to the band had broken in three different places a few weeks ago. Well, as the commercial goes, "He went to Jared". When James got my engagement ring, and we got our wedding rings, we got them at Jared. I just want to brag on the company, because not only did they fix my engagement ring in just a few hours for free, they also fixed a break in James' wedding band, and they kept my wedding ring as well- and they put a new coat of rhodium on all three- all of this for free. All three rings look as shiny and brand new as the day we got them back in 2005.

I wanted to share this top quality service we received, and to show how Jared stands by their product and their customers. I can't ever see us going to a "mall" jewelry store. This is just one story I have to praise Jared; I could tell you the one about how hard they worked to call every store across the country just to get this particular wedding band for me- and how they let me "borrow" another ring until mine came in. Customer service, A++ from me!

Take Me Out...

To the ballgame of course! Saturday we went to our first Braves game for 2010. We took the train up into the city and our friend David picked us up, where we headed to Midtown to our favorite hamburger joint the Vortex. Then David did some superb driving on some back roads to get us over to Turner Field, where James had already scored us a discounted parking pass.



The guys were hoping to catch some foul balls, but nothing ever came our way. The Braves were playing the Arizona Diamondbacks all weekend. At the entrance to the ballpark, there were about 100 people there protesting with signs and handouts. They were protesting the new immigration policies in Arizona. I was actually sort of surprised. I didn't know if they were local people in support of the protest, or people who had travelled from Arizona in order to stand out there all weekend while the Dbacks were in town.





The Braves did well last year, almost making it into the post season. This year they've started off horribly, and Saturday night they got stomped 11-1. We stayed until the end though. David is a huge Braves fan, and I don't think we could have pried him out of his seat, even though the outcome was hopelessly not in the Braves' favor.





It was a long night, and I got tired. David dropped us off at a train station, then by the time we got to the truck and got home, it was after midnight. I was whooped. But we had a great time. The baseball season is long, and I'm sure we'll go to another game later this year. We had good seats and it was a good time to share with a friend. Come on Braves, get your act together and let's have a winning send off for longtime coach Bobby Cox's last season! Okay, yeah sorry, baseball they call the "coach" a manager. Why is that? Why can't he be a coach just like in all other sports.....??

My New Trick

So I just have to say, you are never too old to learn! And here is my proof (above). My mom told me that if I cut off the ends of green onions, I can grow new ones! Sure enough, the last batch of green onions I bought at the grocery store, I cut off the white ends, dried them out, and planted them in a container on our back patio. And within just a few weeks (I'm talking 3-4), ta-dah!- and look what I picked last night! Fresh green onions! Wow, I wonder if I just keep cutting off the ends every time and keep planting them, will I have an endless supply of green onions? Would that be sort of creepy-weird to keep "eating" the same onion over and over again.....? Sadly I don't use them that often in recipes, this was more of an experiment than anything. But I thought it was pretty cool. Thanks Mom!!!!!

Mother's Day 2010

Mother's Day this year saw us in Knoxville once again, to spend the weekend with the women of the Truan clan. Three generations of moms under one roof. James and I snuck over to his parents house and set up a dessert buffet for Saturday night, when everyone came over to exchange gifts and cards and enjoy being together. We were so busy getting it all ready, neither of us thought to take a single photo at the party!



We got to see a little bit of downtown Knoxville, and drove through the UT campus, but unfortunately it was on the way to visit James' niece Sarah on Saturday and Sunday. She is at the children's hospital with a painful, but as of yet undiagnosed, mystery illness. We are still hoping that she and her parents get an answer soon, and most of all we wish her a speedy recovery and a trip back home as quickly as possible.



And as always, we did spend some time with James' Granny. While we were over there on Saturday evening, "her" raccoons came over for a visit as well. James snuck up on them to take this photo with his phone, but as he was creeping closer he stepped on a twig and "snap!", and then the critters scattered. But, they are not afraid of Granny, and when she goes out there to feed them, they cluster around her like little puppies waiting for a treat. And if she doesn't get out there quickly enough for them, they come and stare inside the windows of her house. I can honestly say I've been there when this has actually happened. It was a bit disconcerting to sit in the living room for a visit, and look up to see two raccoons peeking inside at us. Not only is Granny feeding the local raccoons, but she also has a sweet black and white kitty who comes around for food and milk. Granny has a cat, but she stays inside most of the time, although Granny did say that her Socks chased off the new kitty recently.





On Mother's Day, we went out with James' parents and drove over to Sevierville, where we had a big country lunch at the Applewood Farmhouse, one of our favorite places to eat. We relaxed on the porch after shopping over in their massive gift store- and sneaking a fried apple pie at the bakery. It was chilly that day, but signs of Spring were everywhere, including several nests of baby birds (sparrows) up under the porch rafters. (See above, you can barely make out the two little heads, but boy were they squawking away for their mama.) As always, we had a wonderful but quick visit with the family. But, we will be back again in just a few weeks, so it's easy to go back home when you know you'll be seeing everyone again in a matter of days.

Playing Catch Up Again

Sorry I have been away for awhile, just a quick post to catch up on life at the Truan home. I haven't had the time, and mainly the energy, for blogging lately. I am recovering from "walking" pneumonia. After a week of fever, sometimes 104 degrees, I finally broke down and went to the doctor, where they quickly put me on a strong antibiotic. I thought it was just a sinus infection. For about two weeks, I did little but go to work then come home to fall into the bed. Good thing my husband knows how to cook, because I did little in the way of taking care of him for many many days.

This is the end of week three of it for me, and I am feeling good again finally- still a bit of congestion and still don't feel like I can get a d-e-e-p breath. But I can't slack off, as I mentioned before I got Employee of the Month, so no calling out sick, ha ha. My sweet hubby decorated my cubicle for the occasion. I don't know what crazy people at work voted for me, but I appreciate them all.

Last weekend we made our monthly rounds to check on the shuttle sites for work. It was for "April", but since I'd been sick we postponed it into May. We made a stop at a brand new Bass Pro Shop in Macon, where we picked up four new pennies for the collection. We also stopped at a state farmers' market where we loaded up on local tomatoes, potatoes, onions, and zucchini. My dear husband knows that I never ever miss a Kentucky Derby, so that first Saturday in May we got up at 4am in order to go check all the trucks, and be back home in time to watch the Run For The Roses. And wow, Calvin Borel did it again!! He is unstoppable.

We've both had unbelievably busy weeks at work lately. I even worked about six hours of overtime last week while I was sick, without complaint of course because I love my job and I'm so grateful to have it. And six hours is nothing- knowing, of course, that James works well over 40 hours a week- probably around 50-60 on a "normal" week, and no overtime pay for him!! I already know in advance that next week I will have a big big week with folks in my department on vacation, and several large projects that must be done. My boss today already told me, I will be working a lot of extra hours next week. I don't know how my husband does it day after day, year after year, because he works WAY more hours than anyone I know, and he has WAY more responsibility than I ever will. I would nominate him Employee of the Decade, if they would let me.

Yesterday James had a long long day, after working his normal "day", he had to return in the evening to have dinner with his night shift. Which he always does happily, because it's a reward for his hard working (and safety-minded!!) crew, and I'm always full of pride that he is so dedicated to the company and particularly the group of people he works with. So yesterday evening, he slipped away for just about two hours, and took in a little golf before heading back into work for the night. I went with him- I don't golf but it was fun just to hang out with him and walk the course- I make a terrible caddy by the way. He made it through ten holes before it was time to get back to the office. But it was a beautiful day, and I appreciate that he finds ways for us to spend time together. I got distracted quite a bit with all the ducks, geese, fish, and turtles all around the lake. Oh yes, and he parred four holes in a row!

He should be home any minute now, and we are headed off for a Friday night dinner out and a few errands. Then on towards Knoxville early Saturday morning, to spend the Mother's Day weekend with all the lovely Truan women. Now that I am feeling almost back to normal again, I will try to blog a little more frequently!

Happy Mother's Day to you all- especially my mom Pat and James' mom Carol!

Role Reversal

So what the heck is going on at work today?

Me....



James......

The Hawks Get Into the Playoffs

Last night James and I went to Game 1 of the first round of NBA playoff games. As always, my super special husband surprised me with tickets to the game and as always, we had a great time out together. Although it wasn't planned, our seats happened to be in a section where it was just two seats on the row (above) so it worked out wonderfully. We also bought the all-you-can-eat package where we had unlimited access to food, snacks, and drinks at the concession stand.



James also busied himself before the game on his Blackberry by texting messages to the scoreboard. Most of them were messages to me (below), although we did squeeze in one from us to show our support of the Hawks.



The Hawks are playing the Milwaukee Bucks for the first round, and they started off at home with a big win, scoring over 100 points. I was especially excited to get to see former University of Florida superstar Al Horford (#15 below) play. Although it was a blow out in the first half, the Bucks started to make a comeback in the second half, making the game a little more exciting. But they never did take the lead away from the Hawks.



It was a crowded house at Philips Arena, and everyone was in good spirits for the team. I'm glad we live in such a sports-oriented area, with pro football, basketball, baseball, and hockey teams all here in Atlanta. I haven't made it to a Thrashers game yet (hockey), but their season is over now and I'll have to wait until next year. In the meantime, the Braves are just now starting their year, and we renewed our season tickets to the Falcons. So we have plenty of great Atlanta sports ahead of us to look forward to in 2010.

Go Hawks, hope they have a great playoff run!