The Rogers Family

Our first leg of the trip was pretty uneventful. We left on Monday afternoon for Georgia to see Mother & Wink, planning on arriving around 7p.m. We made good time - is that something that others do? Try to "make good time"? It sounds so much like the British phrase to "make merry." Anyway, we got to Mother & Wink's house, went out for some Waffle House and then came back to open gifts. We gave Mother & Wink a Hershey's Kiss Fondue set, DVDs and family pictures. Mother and Wink gave Nathan a Barnes & Noble gift card and me a DVD of the movie Annie and this hard to explain but absolutely stunning hand-carved wooden egg-shaped vase/jar thing. The picture below does not do it justice.

While Mother and Nathan very much enjoy getting gifts, and are very appreciative, they are calm and subdued when opening presents. Wink and I are quite animated when opening gifts (just see the pictures of me below and you'll know what I'm talking about), so I think Mother and Nathan enjoyed watching us get excited.

Wink is a big chocoholic and we added some fun flavored Hershey's Kisses to the fondue set for him to enjoy. He and I also got into a heated discussion about the Mythbusters episode we gave him (and if you haven't watched it yet Wink, they very clearly say that a passenger HAS NEVER and WILL NEVER land a plane if the pilots get sick), but I think all was forgiven. ;)


After gifts, Wink and I played with his multiple GPS units while Nathan and Mother visited. The next morning we continued south towards Florida. Along the way, we wanted to stop at a Wal-Mart to get a couple of things but we had a hard time getting into and out of the shopping centers we passed. So we pressed on, hoping to hit a store further away from the city. Well, we apparently stepped back in time because the Wal-Mart we found was this teensy store in Forsyth, GA.


It was the type of Wal-Mart from about 15 years ago.. small with no real grocery area to speak of. I told Nathan that it was so small that I couldn't navigate it. So after we left the Wal-Mart with our provisions, we soldiered on. Along the way we listened to two radio dramas, A Christmas Carol and It's a Wonderful Life.

Because I had to pee so much, we also stopped at a lot of rest stops, gas stations and a Cracker Barrel. The most interesting part of the stops, besides the grossness of the bathrooms where I worked on perfecting "the squat" (you ladies know what I mean), was seeing the clothing change the further south we got. We started out our trip in single degree weather and by the time we hit the last stop, people were wearing shorts. Thank goodness we dressed in layers.

Stay tuned for the next installment of "The Rogers Family Magical Mystery Christmas Trip of 2008" where we will discuss food, gifts, lights, golf carts and The Villages.

After many bummed-out Christmases, Nathan and I decided to pack up and head south for the holiday this year. His parents live in an awesome retirement community just north of Orlando, FL and we planned spent this Christmas with them. My mother and stepfather live just outside Atlanta, GA and as their house was on the way and we hadn't seen them in a while, Nathan and I also spent some time with them.

Before the big trip, we had our own little Christmas "morning" on Sunday evening and exchanged gifts.

On Monday, we headed south.

Shelly's Gifts:
Comfy Shorts, Fabulous Socks, Wizard of Oz Poster, Nashville Then and Now

Nathan's Gifts:
Dewey, The Library Cat, The Tales of Beadle the Bard, Candy from Sweets From Heaven

Okay, well, Christmas is past, BUT I do have pictures and stories to share. Nathan and I are still settling in after returning from Florida yesterday, and it may take me a couple of days to get myself together. So, if you're a reader and you're anticipating the next post, you'll have to be a tad patient. It is coming though!

Nathan and I were going on the cheap this year for Christmas gifts, so we decided to do a little holiday baking for some of the presents we gave.

Nathan decided that he wanted to make a gingerbread house, inspired mostly by the cartoon Chowder and the episode Hey, Hey It's Knishmas. It turned out very well and Nathan took it to his office Christmas party, where it was thoroughly enjoyed.

We both made Chocolate Cake in a Jar for family and friends. We had a couple of extra ones, so of course Nathan and I tore into them to check "quality control." Needless to say, they passed inspection.

Pictures are posted below, so I hope you enjoy!

We had the first snow of the winter season last Thursday night. It was just beautiful as always, so I snapped a few pictures. Needless to say, this being Tennessee, the snow was gone by mid-day on Friday. But it was lovely while it lasted.

While on Facebook this evening, I got an e-mail from an old high school friend, Jessica. It was a simple, one-line message that said "Shelly, I remember writing some wickedly funny notes with you." As I started to recall our note-passing, I remembered the goofiness that Jessica brought out in me. I also remembered another high school friend, Ashley, with whom I felt free to act very goofy. It was these two girls that brought out a creative side to me that I had forgotten was there. Or at the very least I had hushed so as not to disturb the adult I am supposed to be. Jessica and Ashley represented an artistic, creative, bohemian life that I associated with New York City. If I was to become an artist, I would live in New York and I would hang around people like Jessica and Ashley.

As I was responding to Jessica's e-mail, I noticed that another high school friend named Karyn was on Facebook. Still in a nostalgic mindset, I thought about the Karyn I knew in school and who I was when I was around her. Karyn was a very pretty girl. She wore more, and knew more about, makeup than any girl I can recall from that time. She was glamorous to me and had an air of adulthood that I looked forward to having myself. She was the physical manifestation of what I pictured my twenties to be. She embodied youth and excitement and boys; that time before marriage and motherhood gets you and turns you into a mom-jean wearing, casserole-cooking schlump that Erma Bombeck wrote about. I couldn't wait to be in my twenties so that I could be made up and glamorous like Karyn.

Of course, there are other people from high school that I remember fondly and others not so fondly. But I realized the wide variety of people we meet in our lives and how easily we miss the attributes of each person. The people we connect with are like bits of our personality scattered throughout the world. Some we only connect with briefly and others extensively. But the vast majority of those people really do enhance our lives or contribute in some way to our existence.

I know, I know, I don't normally get this deep or this nostalgic in my blog entries. But Jessica's one-line e-mail really did show me how much of an impact people have had on me.

And it was very nice to feel like I was in tenth grade Geometry again passing notes to Jessica and making up goof-ball things to amuse the two of us.

So Nathan and I decided last year that we wanted to get a new Christmas tree. We put off the shopping for way too long and have been scrambling a bit to find a tree to put up this year. After looking at a bunch of different stores and window shopping online, we thought we had settled on a tree at Dollar General that was affordable and simple. To be sure that we were getting a good deal before purchasing the tree, we hopped over to Big Lots next to Dollar General to compare prices.

Well, it turns out that we did purchase a tree that day at Big Lots. Here's a picture of our new Christmas tree.

Yes, we bought a cat tree in lieu of a Christmas tree. It probably sounds silly, but the cat tree was a great price (we saved about 50%) and we just couldn't pass it up. Plus, the cats just love it! It has an entrance at the bottom where they can make their way up to the top. And judging from the picture, everyone was interested in it right off the bat.

So this year, we will be celebrating Christmas around our Keebler Elf cat tree.

As I have been browsing other people's blogs, I wonder who all out there really reads my blog.

I've gotten hits from Poland, London and Massachusetts (which is a weird-looking word if you stare at it long enough), but I don't know anyone in any of those places. Plus, those folks didn't stay long anyway.

I know that Big Sister reads my blog because she sends me text messages when I don't update it. But I don't feel any urgency to update the blog because I really don't think anyone is reading.

But, I told Nathan last night that I should be blogging for myself and not for other people, so if I just stick to that mindset, I should be okay.

So if you're reading, thank you very much. I am glad you are here.

If you're not reading... well, I understand. There's only so much time in the day.

As I said in my last post, Best Friend Anna and I went to the New Kids on the Block concert in Atlanta last week. What can I say, except that IT WAS FREAKING AWESOME!!!

We made it to our hotel with a couple of hours to spare before the concert, so we got all dolled up and went to the Waffle House for something to eat.

Our seats were good. We were higher up than I'd expected, but we were to the right of the stage, so we had a good view. It was a great show and it was way better than either of the other concerts we went to circa 1989-90. Not too many pyrotechnics, a lot of costume changes (I want to say there were four or five) and just all around good performances.

A few funny things, though: As you know, BF Anna very kindly bought me (and her) new outfits to wear, so we looked fabulous... and like everybody else. Here was the MO: white female, early- to mid-thirties, styled hair (mostly straight), cute top, boot-cut jeans, pointy-toed heels. I would say there was one man to every 20-30 women. And there were smokers. They had a smoking section outside, which just tickled me (I mean smokers? At a New Kids concert?!?) And then there was beer (I mean beer? At a New Kids concert?!?). I actually ended up getting a beer (An $8 beer!) because my throat was getting so dry from screaming. And it loosened me up a bit so that I was able to not worry about if my armpits smelled when I raised my hands up and danced.

And the swearing! Donnie asked us all how his ass looked (I mean ass? At a New Kids concert?!?) and Joe made the comment about how Donnie was all into his ass or something. And somebody made a sign that they gave Donnie that said "Donnie F**king Wahlberg" that he wore across his back for a song or two. Donnie also told all the women whose hubands brought them to the concert to be sure and "reward" them when they got home. And he offered the rest of the New Kids for those of us who didn't have our husbands with us.

The music was good (I totally got their new album after I got home) and the show was good. The company was good and the view was good. I would really say that it was the best concert I had been to, ever.

I would have posted earlier, but the day after we got home, I got a terrible cold that left me bedridden for nearly a week. The running joke is that I caught the clap from one of the New Kids.

Here's pics of the trip and the concert... It was wonderful!!

Today is the big day! Best Friend Anna and I are heading to Atlanta for the New Kids on the Block concert! Last night we went shopping for new outfits to wear and we will look so cute. I am very excited and feel 14 again... well, not exactly, but close enough. Don't worry, I won't be throwing any panties on the stage. But we will have a blast! I'll post pictures when we get back.

So the Big Sister "tagged" me and told me to post seven random things about myself. It appears that my lack of blogging has caused a crisis on her computer that can only be solved by useless, albeit interesting, information. So here goes:

1. I can spread my toes apart very widely. This has always been a talent of mine and I do enjoy showing it off. I realized some time ago after a pedicure with Best Friend Anna that she had the little toe separaters on her feet and I didn't. I thought the guy doing my feet was just lazy, but then after a pedicure about three weeks ago, I noticed that my pedicure companion from work also had the toe separaters and I didn't. It then occurred to me that apparently my toes are naturally spaced and I don't seem to need the little separaters. Neat!

2. I have a cat that likes to play fetch. Her name is Emma and she will only play fetch with a wadded up paper ball.

3. I am a beauty school dropout. I went for six months and learned enough to cut, color, straighten and perm. That's about it.

4. I can take a multi-state car ride with my husband and we can converse for nearly the entire trip. No radio, no interruptions, just talking. It's fun!

5. I love milk. It is by far one of my most favorite drinks in the whole wide world. I want to try that "drink a gallon of milk in an hour and see if you barf" challenge sometime to see if I can make it without chucking. I bet I can.

6. I like hockey. I find it to be relaxing and serene. Yes, even with the fights.

7. I could call my sister right now and say, "War, war war... there's war talk spoiling all the fun at every party this spring..." and she not only could tell me the movie that it's from, but say the rest of the lines for all three characters in the scene and probably act it out for me.

I have been on a big cooking kick lately, and I made low-carb, sugar-free pumpkin pie from scratch! And I don't mean from a can, I mean from an actual pumpkin.

It's really not too hard to do, but I do appreciate the convenience items more, like the canned pumpkin and the pre-made pie shells. Still, I wanted a pumpkin pie that I could eat that wouldn't send me into a sugar fit.

I made the crust from chopped almonds, a little butter and some Splenda. Then I roasted the pumpkin in the oven after scraping out the innards, and pureed it with the hand mixer. I added goat's milk (another new kick of mine), more Splenda, spices and a couple of farm eggs and voilà! A real live, from scratch pie came out of the oven.

Sadly, I didn't get a picture of the finished product. It was good, but I may have to use real sugar next time, or a better sugar substitute, because it did have that sugar-free taste to it. And I think that pecans or pumpkin seeds would have made a better crust. All in all, though, it was a good pie.

Each year, Nathan and I go to the pumpkin patch at Walden Farms. It is a great place to take your kids, but of course we adults love it as well.

They have great prices on pumpkins in all sizes, and they also have a petting zoo, hay ride and corn maze. It was a lot of fun, and I hope you enjoy the pictures!

If you didn't catch it in the last post, I am driving the Flex Fuel minivan, which takes E85 ethanol fuel.

So, Big Sister left a comment about her hubby saying that ethanol gets poor gas mileage. Of course, I didn't see the comment until after I put $25 worth of E85, but I figured, "What's the difference?" Well boy howdy is there a difference! My handy-dandy minivan went from a spry 19 MPG to a piddly 17 MPG in just 1/4 of a tank! So... Big Jay was right!

As much as I am really loving the van, today I started to miss my car when I couldn't get a good song on the radio and I couldn't plug in my jump drive to listen to new songs. But, hopefully I will have the car back at the end of this week.

I feel like a full-fledged soccer mom! Well, minus the "soccer" and the "mom" parts.

As mentioned in my last post, I was in a wreck last Saturday. The rental car company only had a minivan and a truck available, so I chose the minivan with the understanding that I could swap it for a smaller vehicle with better MPG the following Monday.

Well, on Monday, I called Enterprise a couple of times and it appeared to be much more trouble than it was worth to trade in the minivan. The agents seemed swamped and haggard-sounding, so I figured I'd just stick it out with the van and suck up (not literally) the weak MPG by not driving as much.

So as I was filling up the tank on Tuesday, I noticed that there was a E85/Flex Fuel stamp on the gas cap. I recalled seeing something in the owner's manual about this mysterious "E85/Flex Fuel" thing and so I decided to research it the next time I was on the internet (which, on a side note, where the heck would we be without the internet? I mean, how did people find this stuff out 15 years ago and does anybody go to the library anymore?).

It turns out that I can put E85 fuel, which is 85% ethanol, in my minivan... and... E85 is costs considerably less than regular gasoline! And, there is an E85 station only 11 miles from home. What a deal!

So, I am keeping the van until the car is repaired. I expect to have it back in about a week to a week and a half. Until then, Soccer Mom (or Hockey Mom, if you prefer ;) ) Shelly will be scooting around in her minivan feeling powerful and preppy!

Guess who got hit yesterday? That's right... it was me! I was on my way to La Vergne's annual Old Timer's Day parade when a lady came around a corner in a parking lot and hit me. So now I am driving a Chrysler Town & Country minivan. And I missed the parade.

If you haven't heard, Nashville and Middle Tennessee is facing a gas crisis right now. Last week the price jumped 70 cents in our area over the course of two days. This week, most gas stations in the area are out of gas and lines are usually long for the pumps. I have heard stories of police pumping gas to enforce limits and 45-minute lines at the stations. It's a touch scary, but Nathan and I have been fortunate both Friday and Saturday. We both were able to pull into stations and right into an open pump with no limits on purchases.

So, because of the gas crisis, and the aid and evacuations from Hurricane Ike, Enterprise Car Rental was pretty much out of, or very low on, cars when I called to get a replacement vehicle after the wreck. I talked to four locations in the area and my choices were pretty much a truck and a van. I chose the van assuming that it would get better gas mileage. And the gas issue even affected the rental company... there was only a half a tank in the van. Thankfully I don't have to return it full.

So, that's been my weekend. After all of Saturday's stress, I've been trying to relax. And I have been thoroughly enjoying the minivan. I hate to trade it in for a car next week, but I guess if it saves on gas, I must.

So if you see a soccer mom (minus the soccer and the mom part) tooling around town, enjoying driving way too much during a fuel shortage... that'd be me!

Sunday, Nathan decided that he wanted to try on his wedding clothes. They had been locked up in a box in the closet for a good five years, but good packing and minimal moving kept everything in good shape.

So, since Nathan was going to play dress-up with his wedding attire, I thought I'd join him and see how my dress fit me after all these years. Well... both our outfits were too big for us!! It's difficult to tell in the picture, but I have dropped a good 20 pounds since we got married (+/- 90 pounds) and Nathan's weight had redistributed since he's been doing so much physical labor.

In some ways it's a tad sad to not look the way I did on my wedding day, but for the most part, it's awesome that we are in such better shape than we were 7+ years ago.

And, you can see the results of our State Fair excursion in our red faces!

Today Nathan and I went to the Tennessee State Fair and had a really good time. It wasn't very crowded, which I attributed to the high gas prices that jumped 70 cents in 24 hours in our area.

While at the fair, we saw the Krystal Square Off, which was exciting just because there was a debate about who actually won. Nathan and I suspect that the lady who was ultimately declared the winner had cheated. She was booed at the end of the contest. I am slightly sympathetic, but she really was acting like a diva (which is just funny considering that it was a Major League Eating contest) and did not have the crowd on her side at all.

Here are some pictures to enjoy from the fair. It was a blast... and we got sunburned.

Last night I got to have dinner with two old friends that I met in high school. I hadn't seen these two guys since the mid-90s, so there was a considerable amount of catching up to do.

We went to a great sushi place that my sister Spam introduced me to a few weeks ago called Ru San's. I decided yesterday to download the menu before dinner so that I could really look at my options and so I wouldn't spend a lot of time looking at the menu once I got to the restaurant. What you see above is my Godzilla Maki (the one with the sauce) and my Sweet Potato Maki. The Godzilla Maki consisted of chopped macadamia nuts, rolled with red snapper and then fried. after that, it's rolled again with sushi rice and topped with aioli and masago, and then baked. I had to look up what aioli was, and it is an egg, garlic and oil sauce. It was very spicy, but quite tasty. Masago is actually capelin roe, or eggs from a capelin fish.

The Sweet Potato Maki was simply grilled or baked sweet potatoes rolled in sushi rice.

Although the Sweet Potato Maki was on the dry side, overall it was a very good meal with great company. I would recommend Ru San's to anyone in town looking for not only good sushi, but a good variety (thanks Spam!).

Oh, and my friends said I looked just like I did in high school... what affirmation! I would have said the same, except they looked better!

In the midst of all the cat trouble, I still had an opportunity to have a little fun. On Friday night, Best Friend Anna invited me and the girls (her usual crowd of women) to the PTO Bingo night at her son's school. BF Anna is very, very competitive, and it's always fun to watch her get worked up over losing. She knows how competitive she is, and she gets a kick out of it as well.

But, guess what? I won Bingo! Five times!!! After the first win, I let the others in the group pick out a prize for themselves, but I did get a great prize on my first Bingo win. Starbucks coffee... does it get any better?

On the medicinal front, the pink liquid nightmare is proving to be all that and then some. None of the cats like the medicine, to the point where one has actually looked at me with her big sweet eyes and let the pink goo drip right out of her mouth. So, I have taken to making a tuna/antibiotic slurry that I have convinced three cats to eat up. The other three have got to be pinned down and force-fed medicine. The last one, well, I just gave up on him and I have been praying that he will kick this on his own and not get sick/get the others sick.

I have a full-fledged epidemic on my hands. Well, in my house... Sick cats are everywhere!

Poor Rahab started sneezing her head off on Wednesday night and to ease my worry, I took her to the vet this morning. This picture is her riding shotgun on the way to the vet.

Turns out she, and Tika and Samson and Jacob (and most likely the rest) have upper respiratory infections. So I am up to my elbows in pink liquid antibiotics and cat scratches. The cats do not like their medicine, and poor Jacob won't let me touch him when it's time for the pink nightmare. I just have to shoot the liquid into his mouth as best I can when he hisses at me.

On the positive side, at least for the cats, I do give them a treat right after their medicine. I have to buy back their love somehow.

Since I knew I would be off work for five days following convention (yea for getting rest!), I made sure to water my office plants. I have nothing close to a green thumb and the only things it appears I can keep alive and thriving are the 14 or so stalks of lucky bamboo I have lovingly tended for nearly three years.

However, my kalanchoe apparently decided that either life wasn't worth living, or it was worth living, just not with me, and it kicked the bucket while I was gone.


So, my once beautiful kalanchoe got its picture made and then tossed in the trash. I tried very hard to take care of it and water it properly. I really didn't talk to it (not like I do three of my lucky bamboo, collectively called "Vader") but I did research on it, tried to water it like they said, and I tried and tried not to kill it.

Oh well... this is why I also have wooden roses in my office. I can't give the real ones a will to live, either.

I just finished watching the movie Waitress and while no one is asking for my review, I'm going to give it anyway.

Overall, it was a good movie. The direction and cinematography were beautiful, and the plot was well-written with interesting characters.

Still, with all I liked about it, I get frustrated with the perceived notion of bias against men. Or probably better said, the unnecessary-ness of men. I suspect it probably stems from the idea that it is weak for a woman to want a man or to feel incomplete without a man. If a woman wants to have a man in her life and feels like something is missing, I don't find that to be a weakness, but rather the natural order of things. Men and women were made to be together, so why is it such a weakness in either one when they miss having the other?

The other thing that I was frustrated with was the affairs being had all around in the movie. Really, just about every character was having an affair. I feel angry when the adulterous characters are played sympathetically so you can't help but want them to leave their terrible spouses and run off to happiness. Yes, I know that movies are an escape, but please... do we really need to see over and over again how terrible the idea of marriage is? Is that really the message we want to send? I prefer movies with a more realistic view of marriage, with the ups and the downs. I want to see a movie where the couple really enjoy each other and are really committed to the marriage. Where they have the stress of life and temptations, but they work on those things because they really love each other and that love is why they married each other. I hate seeing movies (and people in real life) get married to escape something or to try to achieve a false reality that they think will make them happy. Long story short, I am tired of the sorry, depressing marriages in movies these days.

With that said, I am firmly convinced that Andy Griffith is an underrated actor who has been pigeonholed. Now granted, I have never seen Matlock, and he may have blown it out of the water in that series, but in this movie, he was unlike any character that I had ever seen him play. The whole movie is worth watching just to see his performance. He was excellent.

And, if the movie has done nothing else, it has made me want pie. So it's off to Target I go to get some pie!

So I have Picasa Web Albums and I believe there is some way that I can link an album in my post. So here's my first try... Pictures from the family outing to the Jack Daniels distillery.

Jack Daniels

If this doesn't look good, I'll delete the post and no one will ever know I failed. ;)

I am back from THCA's 2008 Convention and Trade Show in Gatlinburg. I had a good time, even if it was work.

Here are some highlights of the trip:

I am now getting some much needed rest. Two more days and then it's back to the grind.

So I am at our office's annual convention, which was held in Gatlinburg this year. It has been a pretty good time, and I have enjoyed hanging out with my co-wokers. We will be packing up and leaving tomorrow and I am looking forward to a quiet five days off.

Tonight we had an awards gala for nursing home employees and other members of the community that have raised awareness of nursing home concerns. I wasn't a total tear-jerker, but the man who won the environmental services (maintenance/ housekeeping) award had me crying because he was so moved. Of course, I am biased since Nathan is a maintenance man. I think that those type of positions in nursing homes and in other businesses are completely underrated and deserve much more respect than they usually get.

Hopefully I will have a few pictures up soon of the convention and how lovely we the staff members looked in their tuxes and dresses.

Stacy has posted some pictures on her site from last weekend's fun times and family adventures. Below is our picture from the Jack Daniel's tour. We are all scattered about, but needless to say, the Harpole kids are right up front!


It was a really interesting tour, and I would recommend it for anyone.

What a cool day! While preparing for the office's annual convention happening next week, I just got to talk to the Mr. Boudreaux of Boudreaux's Butt Paste on the phone today! Very exciting!

I also got a pair of cheap shoes from Goodwill for the gala at convention next Tuesday; $3.99 and they will match my dress nearly perfectly. I am very excited.

I am updating the web site to make it easier to keep it current. Thanks to Stacy inspiring me, I am trying this whole "blogging" thing. So here we go!