What's on YOUR list???

I had been planning to go see Kam the weekend after Thanksgiving for a couple of months, and was looking forward to it greatly.  However, the weather forecast for that weekend was looking a tad bit ominous.  Snow can turn a 5.5 hour trip into a lot longer one, and it was looking a little iffy.  But hey... I'm still supposed to be young and foolish, right?  Check!  So I hit the road. 
After an interesting and somewhat long drive, I eventually arrived unscathed at the home where we'd be spending Friday night.  Our hosts were fabulously hospitable and kind.  However, that is not to say that things went just as I had expected.  This is how the evening started off.  

As soon as I got there and the "hello, nice to meet you"s were over, I hauled my stuff upstairs and came back down to be sociable.  The first thing I was greeted with: "So, Karmen, what's on your list for a man??"  Umm, well.  That is not where I was expecting to hear right off the bat.  Pause.  "You must have a list."  Okay, did I miss something?  I did just run out to the car to grab something I forgot - maybe I missed a key part of this conversation.  Or maybe it's a quiz?  Has Kamela put them up to something?  I don't know what to say.  Well, if I'm not going to jump in with an idea, one will be suggested.  "First is that he's got to love God, right?"  Well, yes, of course.  That one's a given.  "And he's got to love his mother, right?  Those men always make good husbands."  Hadn't given that a lot of thought, but I suppose that's probably true, yes.  Are we sure I didn't miss something?  Anyway, she made another suggestion or two (I think traveling was mentioned - now that's a good point!) and eventually we moved on to the next topic.  Welcome to Indiana!!

Please understand that this is not to make fun - I actually rather appreciate it when people just say what's on their minds (with some tact, of course) rather than making you guess, thus eliminating the work of guessing and the possibility of guessing incorrectly.  I thoroughly enjoyed our visit and our fun, entertaining hosts - and next time, I'll know to be prepared for any and all questions!!

Thanksgiving Wrap-Up

Summary: A fantastic long weekend, in which we packed in many, many activities.  Always stinks to say good-bye to my family and head back North by myself, but so glad I live close enough to see them on a pretty regular basis.  They're pretty awesome :)

A couple of shots from Sunday, before hitting the road for home.

Kam and Dad - also good buddies, as it turns out

Beautiful music

 

 

Surprise!

Time: Saturday afternoon of Thanksgiving weekend
Place: Mom and Dad's house
Time at which we got up that morning: way too early
Plans: nap, of course!
Place for said plans: personally, I thought my bed would be the perfect place.  Sounds reasonable, no?

Kammy disagreed.  "We have to nap in the basement!"  says Kam.  The BASEMENT?  Why???  The basement is quite nice and all, but it just doesn't have the appeal of, say, my bed - at least, when napping is the planned activity.  I try to explain this.  Not to be rude, but why does it matter where I nap?  You can nap in the  basement if you want, and I can go upstairs, and we can all be happy - right?  Apparently not.  We all need to be together, apparently.  I don't know what she plans to do during her nap, but I plan to be sleeping.  I still don't quite get how this matters, or how I'm going to be as comfortable in the basement as I would be in my bed, but being an all-around agreeable-type sister, I eventually acquiesce.

Surprise!  Happy Birthday Part 2!  (Part 1 being my streamer-cube-fort from my coworkers a week prior)

 

Ok, NOW I get it.  And also, now we can go upstairs to take our naps :)

Later in the evening, there is a celebration.  Grandma and Grandpa R and Aunt Rhonda join us for some presents, cake, games, etc.

Kamela decided to buy me 30 small birthday gifts.  So did Mom and Dad.  So did Kyle and Kalynn.  I'm glad that was the story, and not that someone thought I was turning 90....

Behold the creative gift wrapping.

 The unwrapping begins

Apparently it wasn't supposed to begin quite yet.  (I don't remember why; keep in mind that I'm getting old.)  But anyway, apparently this was my method of solving that problem - I promise I won't look!

 Kam was supposed to direct me to the package with these lovely glasses in them first and make me wear them the whole time.  Luckily, that plan was forgotten and I didn't get to them until closer to the end.  Phew!

 Skipping a few steps... here are my 90 things!  Wow!

The partiers

Dismantling to get ready for meeting the next morning.  Careful, ladies!

With the other birthday girl :)

 Quick pic with my Aunt Rhonda... turned out to be not so quick.  Finally got one after many attempts.  She's a mess!! :)

 Thanks to all! 

 

You Can't Get Me!

A short example of the kinds of activities that ensued over the course of the weekend.

 Sadly, that concluded the Southern IL portion of the weekend.  Until next time!

Toe-Tappin' Entertainment

My cousin, the tap-dancing superstar.  Here we appreciate the result of a well-rounded college education.

We're more than ready to see the show.

Uncle Elliott prepares the dance floor.

 A little stretching is in order first.  I'm sure this was the first "step" in Tap Dance 101.

 

Parker shows us his moves.

A highly satisfying performance.  For a video demo, see Kammy's blog.

Finished projects

Behold the results of the finished rugging projects - or at least, as finished as they would be without more rugging materials.

 

Nicely done, my friends!

Yielding to Temptations!!!

"Kammy,"  I said, "would you like to take a ladylike walk around the farm?  But remember, we should probably just walk and look.  Let's not disturb anything."  My first grade teacher taught me well.  But that Kammy is persuasive....

Starting out innocently enough

Temptation #1

 Oops, we failed. 

Turns out these are farther apart than they look from the ground...

I got better by the end.  Or they got closer together, one of the two.

Victory.  That was actually a lot of work.... lots of hay bales there!

Kammy's turn

How graceful!

Well, mostly.

When we got back to the house, someone said they'd seen some monkeys on the hay bales.  I never saw any. I'll have to check with Kam.  But they were probably there while we were exploring other parts of the farm.  Speaking of which....

Temptation #2:

"Hey," says Kammy.  "Wouldn't it be fun to break the ice on the lake?  Let's throw some rocks."  

"Sold." said Karmen. 

Kammy takes the first crack at it.

My turn.

Clearly, those rocks were too small.  We've got to do something big.

Wow

Success!!!

Guess where we'd just been....

Kammy and Pierre