WHERE'S VERLA?

I have decided to blog at another location for awhile.  I don't know-just needed a change of scenery.  Visit if you want to: http://verlamf.blogspot.com/

RANDOM

It has been a long time since an update from me.  Summer flew by about as fast Spring!  Katie is in the 5th grade this year and I almost cried on the first day of school. This is her last year of grade school.  She is growing up so fast.  I forgot to take any pictures of her the first week of school.  I am not as good as Cari when it comes to that sort of thing.  She definitely gets the prize.  Katie's birthday is coming up in less than 3 weeks.  We need to decide what the final party plan is going to be.  I think she wants it to involve shopping.

I received a very unexpected promotion at work.  I am now the Compliance Officer.  If you are, or have ever been, employed in banking you are probably questioning my sanity.  But I am excited about it.  I just got back from a week long Compliance School in Stillwater.  It was on the OSU campus.  It was my first time to Stillwater.  The campus is beautiful. 

This is where I had had my devotion and prayer time every morning.  This is outside the Student Union.  It was a nice quiet spot around 7AM.

 We had a great week.  We stayed in The Atherton which is the hotel on campus.  What a great place.

  I slept in the most comfortable bed.  The bedding was so luxurious. 

We went to class from 8:30 until 5 or 6 Monday through Thursday.  The speakers were all very interesting and some of them were quite entertaining.  I learned a lot that will help me in my new job.  I did get a little tired of the color orange before the week was over!

I have enjoyed the long weekend off.  I was lazy for the most part.  Well, some might call it lazy.  I call it relaxing.  I love to read and that is what I did a good part of the time.  I did work on organizing our safe/storage room today and it looks much better.  Maybe I will tackle the laundry room this weekend.  It really needs help. Tomorrow it is back to the normal routine and work as usual. 

Have a great week everyone!

Dennis, Katie and I went to Hot Springs this weekend for a little visit with my sister Debe and her husband Dave.  I had been there once but it was a first for Dennis and Katie.  It is a nice drive through Springdale, Fayetteville, Fort Smith and, of course, Y City.  We got there Friday evening in time for a great supper of hamburgers cooked and eaten outdoors on their deck.  It was so fun to sit and relax and talk.  We got up Saturday morning and went to Cracker Barrel for breakfast-Katie's choice, much to my delight.  After the yumminess that is Hash Brown Casserole we headed to explore the downtown region of Hot Springs.  We toured a bath house, walked along bath house row, went into The Arlington,

(Al Capone's car in the lobby at the Arlington) 

 shopped at a charming little place called Fresh, and just enjoyed the morning in general.  The weather was perfect for a walkabout.  Then we went to the mall and did a little shopping.  Instead of lunch we had ice cream at Scoops.  The ice cream is creamy and rich and expensive but we ate every drip and drop. 

We got back to Debe's house in time to rest for a few minutes and then head off to Jose's for dinner.  Yum-some of the best cheese enchiladas I have ever had. 

And the white cheese queso is excellent.  If you go there, order the strawberry punch.  Another yummy.  Then, it was home to sit and moan about the amount of food we had eaten.  We got up Sunday and went to church where my brother in law pastors. 

(Debe and Katie all dressed up for church and making silly faces!)

We had a good service and met some great people.  Back to the house for a divine Sunday dinner-roast pork tenderloin, squash, carrots, mashed potatoes, hot rolls and green beans.  Paula Deen would have been so proud-Debe used 2 sticks of butter in her potatoes.  Wow, they were good!  An afternoon of playing with Debe's grandsons

(Hayden)

(Easton and Katie)

and some napping and we were back at church for discipleship classes.  After church a bunch of their friends came over to the house for hot dogs and other goodies and, would you believe, I forgot to take any  pictures!  We had a lot of fun.  I knew the ladies because we had been at a retreat together years ago so it was fun to reconnect.  A good night's sleep and then up for breakfast and the drive home this morning.  It rained from Hot Springs to Fayetteville but we had a nice drive.  We stopped in Springdale to eat at The Markeplace and that was good as always.  That was another first for Dennis and Katie.  We got home about 3:30 this afternoon and it was good to be home.  We have been lazy all afternoon and that is finr with me.  I am off the rest of this week and plan to enjoy my down time.  I wish I was as good at photography as Whitney.  She always has so many pictures to share.  I get caught up in my visit and forget to take pictures!

Currently Listening Bad Hair Day By "Weird Al" Yankovic see related

I am only doing this because I told Whitney I would and I keep my promises.  For some crazy reason I decided to color my hair this past weekend.  I decided on a shade and, when I got to the point of taking it off the shelf, I went for the next darker shade.  It is dark.  Real dark.  Darker than I wanted.  I don't really care for it.  But, what's a girl to do.  So, I had Katie take a picture to post.  You should never have people shorter than you take your picture.  It makes for a very strange angle.  

I should of got a tattoo!

UPDATE AND THE REST OF THE PICTURE!!!!

I can't believe he finally got one.  He's been talking about it for a year!

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We got back from Branson this afternoon.  We had such a nice, relaxing time.  I could have stayed another week, at least.  But, real life gets in the way of fun sometimes.  Here's a little guessing game for you all.  Can you guess what Dennis is doing in this picture?  No guessing from those of you who already have been told about this.

Post your guesses and I will reveal the rest of the picture soon!