Hmmmmmmmm. Let me think. Oh, wait! I am fortunate enough to be actually be living the answer to that question right now. What do I do? I am having a blast teaching skin care & playing with makeup. Let me explain…

I was a former engineering documentation specialist for 20 years or so & found it very rewarding. I might even have continued along that path, but changes in the technology we use & the global labor market made me realize that it was time to take my career in a different direction. I thought about some kind of business, but was reluctant to get back in that squirrel cage after my experience with my craft business that I had from a few years back, mostly to nurture my creative spirit without going broke while doing it. For quite a number of months, I was letting the question simmer in the back of my brain as my current contract work was dwindling…

In the summer of 2005, I heard from one of my hubby’s old work friends who I think was calling to try & figure out if I might be interested in Mary Kay. After we spoke, she sent me a catalog & I remember tossing it in the trash, thinking, “What do I need that for? I’m not in the mood to buy anything right now & it will just clutter up the place until one day I decide I need something, but by then I won’t be able to find it, so I will just end up calling her anyway.” She called every now & then to see what was going on in my life & we had some lovely chats, talking about all manner of things that had absolutely nothing to do with skin care & makeup, getting to be good friends….

One day later that same summer she called to ask me to please help her meet a challenge she had been issued & meet with this woman visiting from the Houston area so she could learn how to present the Mary Kay marketing plan to her customers. My hubby told me to go ahead & meet her, the buy a lipstick or something like that since I had been so busy the last few times she called. The woman we met with is now our Nation Area Director & she shared the details of how things worked in the Mary Kay world with me. It sounded like just the sort of thing I had been looking for, with a great potential for return on my investment & very little risk. I felt so “uneducated” in matters of glamour & skin care since I used so little of those things, I was reluctant to seriously consider the opportunity for myself, though. No worry, they both told me, in fact it was better that I didn’t know a lot so there was less chance of my teaching the wrong things to others who also needed to know about them & Mary Kay would train me in the proper use of all their products….
 
I decided to give it a try, signed up & ordered my inventory to get my business started soon after that meeting. Hubby was surprised that I would choose that sort of thing to do since I really am not a “frou-frou” type of woman, but he was reasonably certain that that at the time the decision was made, I was as sane & sensible as I know how to be, so he didn’t have any real problems with it. When the boxes of inventory arrived at our door, he did feel obligated to say, “But I thought you were just going to buy a lipstick!”

Fast forward to today: Not only did just about all of the really cool things I was told about owning my own Mary Kay business happen for me, I got some bonuses, too! To name a few: I met some great ladies & a few gentlemen (customers & fellow business owners) that I know that I would not know today if it wasn’t for my business. I have been places I never would have gone & other places I have really been wanting to see again because of my business. I have been able to continue my volunteer work at the church & stay involved with that, too, which I assumed I would need to give up if I was working.

Now you know why I would not want to do anything else…
 

I just answered this Featured Question, you can answer it too!

A fine bit of wisdom I’d like to share from an email buddy of mine:

Once upon a time there was this girl who had four boyfriends. She loved the fourth one the most, adorned him with rich robes, and treated him to the finest of delicacies. She gave him nothing but the very best.

She also loved the third boyfriend very much and was always showing him off to neighboring kingdoms. However, she feared that one day he would leave her for another.

She also loved her second boyfriend. He was her confidant and was always kind, considerate and patient with her. Whenever this girl faced a problem, she could confide in him, and he would help her get through the difficult times.

The girl’s first boyfriend was a very loyal partner and had made great contributions in maintaining her wealth and kingdom. However, she did not love him. Although he loved her deeply, she hardly took notice of him!

One day, the girl fell ill, and knew her time was short. She thought of her luxurious life and wondered, “I now have four boyfriends with me, but when I die, I’ll be all alone.”

Thus, she asked the 4th boyfriend, “I loved you the most, endowed you with the finest clothing and showered great care over you. Now that I’m dying, will you follow me and keep me company?” “No way!” he replied, and walked away without another word. His answer cut like a sharp knife right into her heart.

The sad girl then asked the third boyfriend, “I loved you all my life. Now that I’m dying, will you follow me and keep me company?” “No!” replied the third boyfriend. “Life is too good. When you die, I’m going to marry someone else!” Her heart sank and turned cold.

She then asked the second boyfriend, “I have always turned to you for help and you’ve always been there for me. When I die, will you follow me and keep me company?” “I’m sorry, I can’t help you out this time!” replied he, “At the very most, I can walk with you to your grave.” His answer struck her like a bolt of lightning, and the girl was devastated.

Then a voice called out: “I’ll go with you. I’ll follow you no matter where you go.” The girl looked up, and there was her first boyfriend. He was very skinny, because he suffered from malnutrition and neglect. Greatly grieved, the girl said, “I should have taken much better care of you when I had the chance.”

In truth, you have four boyfriends in your lives: Your 4th is your body. No matter how much time and effort you lavish in making it look good, it will leave you when you die. Your thirrd boyfriend is your possessions, status and wealth. When you die, it will all go to others. Your second boyfriend is your family and friends. No matter how much they have been there for you, the furthest they can stay by you is up to the grave.

And your first boyfriend is your soul, often neglected in pursuit of wealth, power and pleasures of the world. However, your soul is the only thing that will follow you whereever you go Cultivate, strengthen and cherish it now, for it is the only part of you that will follow you to the throne of God and continue with you throughout Eternity.

Thought for the day: Remember, when the world pushes you to your knees, you’re in the perfect position to pray.

Another goodie tossed in for good measure: Being happy doesn’t mean everything’s perfect. It means you’ve decided to see beyond the imperfections.

Finally, check out this cool article…..

As many of you already know, Donkey & I dropped in on Tude for her birthday party on Saturday, October 20th. Our fellow fools really do know how to throw a party. WowieHolyCowie!!! They even had dancing girls! People came from all over the place to celebrate & it was such an adventure to meet everyone. We all had such fun! Neither of us had visited that part of New York before & we had no idea what to expect……

We got there a few days before the party & stayed a few days afterwards so we could spend some time getting to know some of our fellow xanga fools & see some fall colors while we were there, too. In case anyone hasn’t yet figured it out yet by our previous posts and/or comments, it was AWESOME!!!! Besides the fabulous folks we got to meet, the beautiful colors on the trees, there was all this wonder-full FOOD! Mmmmmmmmmmm!!!! (I know, it’s all about the food with me!) We got a tour of the area which included some very clever entries in a scarecrow contest, fun little shops to look through, a little stroll along the canal & wildlife peeking out from among the fire-colored trees. Wow. Who could ask for more? That trip was the first time we had traveled together since a good bit before 9/11, so we really were due for one….

Donkey has stored all of the pictures from our trip in some file that I haven’t been able to get to from my computer yet, but I promise to either extract the information to be able to access them from my computer from him or steal his computer after he falls asleep again soon. (It’s that funky “shared files that aren’t really shared” thingy again!) Meanwhile, here is one of my faves of the fall colors for you to enjoy:

I spent most of the two days between my trips emptying the big suitcases, doing
laundry, filling my little roll-y bag & getting my car in for repairs because the “check engine”
light came on as I was out & about replenishing our perishable
food supplies after we returned from New York. Since the camera was not unloaded (I was in such a rush to get off that I forgot about our spare memory chip for the camera that I could have used instead) before I left to attend our Mary Kay Area Advance at  the Moody Gardens resort complex in Galveston, you will just have to click on the link if you are curious about what that place was like. Donkey & I used to live in Galveston when he worked for UT Medical Branch, but it was so long ago that the Moody Gardens complex wasn’t there then, so it was all new to me, too. While I stayed there, I saw the most captivating views of the skyline of the the city & the Gulf of Mexico from my room on the 4th floor, especially at sunrise & sunset….

We had an awards ceremony on Friday evening, and I was the #3 top selling consultant for our entire area so far this year. WooHOO!!! (Thank you to all my customers reading this. You are the ones that make me stand out among the several hundred other consultants in our area!) After that meeting, I got to attend a special winner’s reception in the national director’s suite where we were joined by one of the other guest speakers along with several other consultants who also earned the privilege of attending. The next day, we got to do some more training & then they had this wonderful Mexican buffet for dinner. I ate so much that it was hard for me to stay awake during our unit meeting that followed. Later that evening we saw the film, We are Marshall, which was very inspiring. Sunday I got to attend a worship service before we had the closing activities, then I headed back to Austin.

I was still operating on a “sleep deficit” as we often do when several MK ladies share a hotel room to keep costs in line when we travel for any of these type of things, so I stopped in Brenhem for a power nap. (Sorry, no Blue Bell, though. After the Abbott’s frozen custard on our vacation, I don’t think I will ever feel the same about Blue Bell again!) After 15 or 20 minutes, I was able to get back on the road again so that I would be home in time to attend another film that our book group was planning on viewing that evening. I pulled into our garage, turned off my car, popped into the house for a quick freshener-upper, leaving everything to unpack later & got into Donkey’s car to go to the church & see Instinct with the book group, which was another great film. Two in one weekend–I think that is some kind of record for me……

with love from Flash

pssssst! everyone go wish him a happy birthday

Final stretch of the rebuilding:

The back steps & the lattice rail are now done. Do you like my BioOrb composting container in the background? So easy to turn the stuff inside–you just roll it around the yard…

The screen on the other side of the steps by the house is done now, too. You can also see another not-quite-so gnarly tree by the side of the house and my pile of stepping stones that have not been put down yet in the background….

The painting is about half done. At least I HOPE it at least half done since I only got two gallons of stain & one is now gone:

It has been so long since we tended to this poor deck that they didn’t even make the stain that we used last time anymore when I went to get some more. I did the best I could to match it, but this newer one definitely has a bit of a pink tinge to it instead of that lovely coppery color like the brown in the stones on our house. I was hoping that I might not have to re-stain the lattice wood since that takes so much stain & it is a huge pain in the patootie! Does it look like I need to re-stain the lattice work here?

The back steps after they were painted. They do look a bit more pink, don’t they? I swear I wasn’t even thinking about Mary Kay when I picked out that shade of stain!

Juliet doesn’t seem to mind that the deck is a bit more pink these days. She definitely did not like walking on the steps right after I had stained them, though. Luckily for both of us, she got bored with the whole staining thing very quickly & decided to just take a nap on the upper level while I was working on this part….

The lower level is done now except painting the trim on the sides along the back. YAY!

Here is the beginning of the arbor to use up the extra lattice wood that will go over the gate near the shed in the previous photo. Juliet seems unconcerned about the lack of progress on this phase of the project…..

Here you see the sketch I did of the arbor to figure out how much more material I would need to buy to use up the leftover lattice wood….

This sketch is for the screen in front of the spa pump, heater, etc…..

By the way: I never did get my computer to own up to the fact that it does really have a drive that can read the memory from our camera, so I used Donkey’s computer with this little silver box thingy attached to it that can read the camera memory. He was showing me how to move stuff around to get it where I could use it on my computer & I learned that files labeled “shared” aren’t really shared at all. I erroneously assumed that if I was on my computer & stored anything in those files, anyone on our “household network” computers could access that information & that the reverse would also be true. In true computer-world fashion, it is more complicated than that. Don’t ask me to explain it–if I had to do it again, I would just have to ask Donkey, so if you really want to know more about it, that is what you will have to do, too……  

I am getting close to being done with the rebuilding of the deck. I took these photos a little while ago and was going to add ones from the pics I took this morning, but my computer is acting like it doesn’t know what that slot where you stick the camera memory is for now, so I will add them later after Donkey sets it straight……

Here is the framing for the steps where there used to be more deck & also the beginning of the frame for the railing on the lower level of the deck. Kitty Juliet’s new favorite spot to snooze is the top of the railing in that corner where it wraps around. I just love that really knarly Live Oak in the background, too!

The steps on this side are nearly done here. The hoses from the pump for the spa run under the steps from the side & into the deck area where the steps can hide the opening. Critters may still be able to get in the hole for the hoses though, so I made the opening (aka kitty hatch) large enough that Juliet can also get in there & keep the population of possums & racoons down like she did before with the old deck. The lattice screen/railing on the near side, top & bottom steps were not done at the time this photo was taken….

An upside-down chaise lawnchair served as a barrier to keep anyone from falling through the old rotten boards or the holes where there were not yet new boards on the lower level. The upper level in the foreground of this photo was completed earlier before our son lost interest in the project and found a “real job.” Yay for having help hefting those 16-footers on the upper level and also for the fact that our son has a “real job” now!

With my Scotch heritage, I just couldn’t waste the lattice wood left over (especially after all the bother it took to get it home–but that is a story for another post) after I asembled the screen/railings on the deck and I have always wanted an arbor, so I am using up the leftover lattice wood to build an arbor for the gate at the end of our driveway. It looks as though I will also have enough to do some screening around the spa pump, heater and all that stuff, too….

Here you are, Tude:

1. WERE YOU NAMED AFTER ANYONE? My mother’s mother, who died when my mom was 4 years old, so I never knew her….

2. WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU CRIED? I honestly can’t remember. That’s a good thing, right?

3. DO YOU LIKE YOUR HANDWRITING? Sometimes yes & sometimes no….

4. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE LUNCH MEAT? Turkey pastrami. Mmmmmmmmmm…….

5. DO YOU HAVE KIDS? Two in their 20′s….

6. IF YOU WERE ANOTHER PERSON WOULD YOU BE FRIENDS WITH YOU? Wow. What a cool idea. I will clone myself and get twice as much done. No, wait. That would be twice as much bother…..

7. DO YOU USE SARCASM A LOT? What ever in the world would make you ask a question like that?

8. DO YOU STILL HAVE YOUR TONSILS? Not for quite a while now….

9. WOULD YOU BUNGEE JUMP? Might be kinda fun….

10. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE CEREAL? Cranberry orange instant oatmeal when it is cold out.

11. DO YOU UNTIE YOUR SHOES WHEN YOU TAKE THEM OFF? Depends….some of my shoes are slip-ons!

12. DO YOU THINK YOU ARE STRONG? Most defintely if I have been working out. At least until I get a chance to shower…..

13. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE ICE CREAM? Blue Bell Moo-Lennium Crunch. Do they still make that? 

14. WHAT IS THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ABOUT PEOPLE? Now that I do MK, I have to say their skin & their makeup…..

15. RED OR PINK? Yes.

16. WHAT IS THE LEAST FAVORITE THING ABOUT YOURSELF? I think I will skip this question like Tude did. We spend enough time stomping on ourselves as it is….

17. WHO DO YOU MISS THE MOST ? My brother.

18. DO YOU WANT EVERYONE TO SEND THIS BACK TO YOU? Send it back where?

19. WHAT COLOR PANTS AND SHOES ARE YOU WEARING? Denim capris & leather huraches

20. WHAT WAS THE LAST THING YOU ATE? Special Dark chocolate.

21. WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW? Cannot tell if it is crickets or interference on the “kitty monitor” & now kitty meowing to get in, too…..

22. IF YOU WHERE A CRAYON, WHAT COLOR WOULD YOU BE? Indigo.

23. FAVORITE SMELLS? Chocolate, Italian food, Mexican food, Chinese food (okay, just about ANY kind of food unless it is burnt), magnolia blossums, fresh cut wood, that “earthy” smell when you dig up anything from the ground. Freshly laundered towel, freshly laundered nightshirt & freshly laundered bed linens all at the same time….

24. WHO WAS THE LAST PERSON YOU TALKED TO ON THE PHONE? Donkey–making dinner plans, grousing about traffic…..

25. DO YOU LIKE THE PERSON WHO SENT THIS TO YOU? Well, nobody sent it to me, I just found it on Tude’s site. For the record, I like Tude just fine…

26. FAVORITE SPORTS TO WATCH? Football, soccer and the basketball now & then…. 

27. HAIR COLOR? Mostly brown, a little bit gray & a touch of red when I feel like it…..

28. EYE COLOR? Light brown or dark hazel, take your pick…..

29. DO YOU WEAR CONTACTS? Not when the ragweed is this bad…..

30. FAVORITE FOOD? Don’t get me started……

31. SCARY MOVIES OR HAPPY ENDINGS? Gotta go with Tude on this one–happy Endings!

32. LAST MOVIE YOU WATCHED? I really don’t remember….I hardly ever get to see an entire movie in one sitting anyway, between my cwa-zee schedule & Donkey’s love affair with the remote control…..

33. WHAT COLOR SHIRT ARE YOU WEARING? Basic black, but rather faded, so maybe more like grey now….

34. SUMMER OR WINTER? Summer in Michigan, winter in Texas…..

35. HUGS OR KISSES? Yes.

36. FAVORITE DESSERT? Most anything whose primary ingredients are chocolate, nuts & caramel of some sort….

37. MOST LIKELY TO RESPOND? NO idea. Tude may be right about Donkey on this one…..

38. LEAST LIKELY TO RESPOND? Again, NO idea…..

39. WHAT BOOK ARE YOU READING NOW? Ismael by Daniel Quinn, Jesus & the Gospels by Leander Keck, & Stop Self Sabotage by Pat Pearson….

40. WHAT IS ON YOUR MOUSE PAD? My mouse, probably a few crumbs from lunch & a faded picture of SpongeBob playing a ukelele. Why waste a perfectly good mouse pad just because your kid decides she needs something a bit more “grown up,” right?

41. WHAT DID YOU WATCH ON T.V. LAST NIGHT? Not much. They had the highway we use to get home from church under construction & it was well after 10pm by the time we got home from Bible study…..

42. FAVORITE SOUND? Laughing children, almost any kind of music except country (don’t really consider rap music, so I can say that) especially if it was made by a family member, purring kitties, rain on a metal roof, the sound of the garage door opening when I am waiting for Donkey to come home….

43. ROLLING STONES OR BEATLES? Yes.

44. WHAT IS THE FURTHEST YOU HAVE BEEN FROM HOME? Probably California. New York is further from Texas, but when I was there, I was only traveling from Michigan…..

45. DO YOU HAVE A SPECIAL TALENT? I was queen of sales this week at the MK meeting, does that count? I also did a bulletin board for the church nursery that everyone who has seen it seems to like……

46. WHERE WERE YOU BORN? Midland, Michigan

47. WHOSE ANSWERS ARE YOU LOOKING FORWARD TO GETTING BACK? Gotta go with Tude on this one, too—Everyone… so you better get working!!!!!

In honor of tonight’s event, I thought I might share some of things I know about food pantries.

First, the one where I spend most of my time:

During the time for offering on Sunday mornings at our church, food is collected by the youth for the Friendship Fund food Pantry from those who wish to donate.  Each Tuesday morning in the Fellowship Hall beginning at 9:00 a.m., the Friendship Fund Food Pantry offers the food donated by the congregation, additional food items obtained from the Capital Area Food Bank, and also rent or utility assistance to those in need is provided by the Friendship Fund.

Families may obtain food from the pantry every other week, and assistance of $25 per household is paid directly to the apartment or utility company not more than once in six months if they need it. We usually help between 65 & 75 families a week with food and 10 or 12 with rent or utility assistance. (Our current economic climate has not been kind to “the least of these.” Several years ago, when I first began helping out after I lost my job so the “hole” on my resume wouldn’t look so bad, 25 or 30 families was a really big day.) Volunteers serve coffee (also lemonade in the summer) and a light snack for all recipients while they wait for their turn.

We order between 600 & 800 pounds of canned goods a week from the national food bank, America’s Second Harvest, which has to be picked up from our local food bank, delivered, unloaded & set up the day before we open our pantry. While we are there, we can also shop for bakery & produce items to give away that have been donated by local grocery stores. We are fortunate to be a university area church, so most weeks we have plenty of willing & able volunteers. (Summers & exam times, the help can be a bit more sparse, but somehow, it always seems to get done.) When I first started ordering the food a few years back, 250 or 300 pounds seemed like a LOT to me…..

As a member of the Micah 6 Coalition, a network of faith communities within the University of Texas area, our church also helps support another pantry, located (right now) at a church across the street from ours. A soup kitchen and the food pantry are two of the services offered there. The church where this pantry is currently housed will not be able to continue after this year & when they informed the coalition of that fact, it was about the same time our church had made the decision to close our day care center. Many of our members took that as a sign that WE should then house the Micah 6 pantry, so we are now working on making a portion of our building ready to house the Micah 6 food pantry next year….     

A lot of folks think that “welfare moms” & homeless, destitute people go to food banks & soup kitchens. They believe that if they would just get a job, they would not need to ask for help. There certainly are some folks like that crossing our threshold on Tuesday mornings who do expect the world to take care of them (I can think of some high-level corporate execs with that same sort of attitude, though!) & they really could do better for themselves, but many are just doing the best that they can….

In Texas, the demand for affordable mental heath care, coupled with the legislation that made it more difficult to “commit” patients indefinitely left a lot of folks that are simply not capable of taking care of day-to-day responsibilities with nowhere else to go so they are now living on the street. (A retired nurse that volunteers with us says that many of those who come to see us should be on meds that aren’t & that many of those that should NOT be on meds are.)  The cost of living in the Austin area has been rising at an alarming rate, but wages have not. Employment was scarce during the “tech bust” when many of those jobs were exported overseas and lower-wage jobs that usualy go to those with little or no education were going to college-educated folks who did not want to relocate. We have many “regulars” who actually have jobs driving school busses & working at local businesses for minimum wage & no benefits, but one unexpected expense (Family member getting sick with no health insurance is number one on the hit parade) upsets the whole applecart and they are back for more help…

Thanks for letting me share…..

I can always count on my email buddies to send me good stuff to share when things are too crazy-busy to gather my own thoughts to share with my xanga friends:

They walk among us……

I was at the checkout of a K-Mart. The clerk rang up $46.64 charge. I gave her a fifty dollar bill. She gave me back $46.64. I gave it back to her and told her that she had made a mistake in MY favor and gave her the money back. She became indignant and informed me she was educated and knew what she was doing, and returned the money again. I gave her the money back again…same scenario! I departed the store with the $46.64.

…………. They Walk Among Us and Many Work Retail.

I walked into a Mickey D’s with a buy-one-get-one-free coupon for a sandwich. I handed it to the girl and she looked over at a little chalkboard that said “buy one-get one free.” “They’re already buy-one-get-one-free,” she said, “so I guess they’re both free.” She handed me my free sandwiches and I walked out the door.

……………They Walk Among Us and Many Work Retail.

One day I was walking down the beach with some friends when one of them shouted, “Look at that dead bird!” Someone looked up at the sky and said, “Where?”

……………They Walk Among Us!

While looking at a house, my brother asked the real estate agent which direction was north because, he explained, he didn’t want the sun waking him up every morning. She asked, “Does the sun rise in the north?” When my brother explained that the sun rises in the east, and has for sometime, she shook her head and said, “Oh I don’t keep up with that stuff.”

……………They Walk Among Us!!

I used to work in technical support for a 24/7 call center. One day I got a call from an individual who asked what hours the call center was open. I told him, “The number you dialed is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.” He responded, “Is that Eastern or Pacific time?” Wanting to end the call quickly, I said, “Uh, Pacific.”

……………They Walk Among Us!

My sister has a lifesaving tool in her car designed to cut through a seat belt if she gets trapped. She keeps it in the trunk.

……………They Walk Among Us!

My friends and I were on a beer run and noticed that the cases were discounted 10%. Since it was a big party, we bought 2 cases. The cashier multiplied 2 times 10% and gave us a 20% discount.

……………They Walk Among Us!

I couldn’t find my luggage at the airport baggage area, so I went to the lost luggage office and told the woman there that my bags never showed up. She smiled and told me not to worry because she was a trained professional and I was in good hands. “Now,” she asked me, “has your plane arrived yet?”

……………They Walk Among Us!

While working at a pizza parlor I observed a man ordering a small pizza to go. He appeared to be alone and the cook asked him if he would like it cut into 4 pieces or 6. He thought about it for some time before responding. “Just cut it into 4 pieces; I don’t think I’m hungry enough to eat 6 pieces.”

………….Yep, They Walk Among Us!

They Walk Among Us, AND they reproduce, and WORST OF ALL ……………… they VOTE!

 To continue: We left for my older sister’s house near Battle Creek. She has an even bigger pond in her back yard. Actually, it is more of a small lake….

We managed to arrive in time to go with my older sister, brother-in-law, niece & her 2 boys, niece-in-law & her 2 kids to this picnic/party thingy at the Kellogg Foundation where my sis works. The grounds were just lovely! There is a park-like area right out the back doors of the administration building, complete with ducks…….

……..and the old Kellogg homestead.

They had it catered with all kinds of grilled goodies prepared right on site. I just loved the grilled veggies! (I know, it’s all about the food with me!) The grandkids got so busy on the moonwalk, slide and dragon whatever-it-was, there wasn’t much food left by the time we talked them into stopping to eat. My sister got the job of minding all the shoes while they all played……

Daughter & her sweetie were enjoying time together, having fun watching every one having fun…..

There was also a band and a dance floor. One of the grandsons made a beeline for it and got busy….

Even his shy little sister wanted to get in on it before it was done…..

They went back to play on the inflatable stuff again before we left and we had trouble rounding them all up to leave…..

As were leaving, I asked one of the moon-walk/slide thingy fellas if one of those things would hold someone my size, mostly as a joke. He answered back that it could take TWO of us. My sis & I looked at each other, took that as a personal challenge & went for it……

It was a BLAST!!!!! So we HAD to do it again…..

We even tried a few more of the “rides” but by then, the novelty of watching two old fools get silly wore off, and none of the kids took any pictures. Needless to say, we all slept good that night after all that great food & fun! The next day, we didn’t do much except some planning & preparation for the MK party we had scheduled for the next night…….

The next day, Daughter, sweetie, sis & I went to a nearby zoo and took a least a bazillion pictures between us. Here are a few of them……

Check out the length of those giraffe tongues…….

Daughter actually took a short video of these guys grooming each other, but this entry is already going to take forever to download as it is….

Mooooooooooooo!

Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa! (at least we can have some sound)

Kinda wish I had been a prairie dog that day. It was a bit warm to be out in the sun…..

Everyone loves the turtle…….

Good times were had by all……

Hey! Look who we saw at the zoo! He just keeps showing up everywhere, doesn’t he?

We departed from the zoo to get back to my sister’s so that we could work on dinner for everyone. Daughter’s sweetie cooked some awesome steaks & everything was oh, so yummy. (Yup, more food!) Since it was our last evening, my sis decided to invite both offspring & their families as well as her mom-in-law, so we had a pretty full house…..

Dancing boy & his daddy…..

The next day, my sis wanted some pictures of everyone before we headed back to Detroit to turn in our car & catch our flight back home. Here’s my favorite: 

As we sat in Dallas waiting for our connecting flight back to Austin, I was wishing there was some way I could just stay there so I didn’t have to drive back up there a few days later for MK seminar. More on that later…..