It's a Paul's thing...

I decided to do a picture story today about one of our favorite places to eat!  Paul's Restaurant in Pheobus.
We're always on the lookout for the mom&pop style places to eat.  Down home places.  Some folks call them dives.  We LOVE dives, so it's a term we use affectionately.  Paul's is such a place!

This is Paul.  He usually moves so fast, we can't get a good picture of him.  This was the best I could do while he was cooking our breakfast...

Paul's is open Monday through Saturday for Breakfast and Lunch.  He's also open for dinner on Friday only.  That's why he's a little late on Saturday mornings...  ;)

He has a full bar and will serve you a drink anytime you want it.  If you want a beer with your breakfast, this is the place.  I personally can't drink that early, but have seen a few of his patrons do it.  But we do enjoy sitting at the bar for breakfast!

The dining room shows that this place has been around a while, but it's comfy enough, and seat about 70 or so, I think.  Only once have I eaten at a table here....

A quick peek at the menu front.

The inside of the menu.  And below - the most important part:  Breakfast!

I'm pretty sure this is our breakfast cooking.  Pancakes, hash-browns, bacon, eggs.  YUM!

His pancakes are hands-down the best pancakes I have ever eaten.  Make no mistake - I've eaten quite a few pancakes.  But his are the best!!!

And the rest is yummy too!  He makes each order to order.  So you know your food is fresh!

Oh, and we know he's up to no-good when the hat gets flipped to the side.  He's a mischevious one, so we watch out when the hat goes sideways!  

And you never know who'll you'll meet while you're there.  This past week, we met Captain George (with waitress Michelle) who claims to be 105 years old!  He ordered a beer, and Paul made sure he got a warm one.  He knows his customers, and knows that Capt George started drinking before beer was refrigerated.  And knows he likes it warm.  That's customer service!

Michelle moves at the speed of light, too, so pictures of her are often fuzzy.  We all must have been carefully watching something?  I know we couldn't have all been watching this poor fellow eat!?!?
And here is a quick "behind the scenes" tour.  Really, that's it.  

And here's where we get him into trouble, by getting him laughing at something.  We truly enjoy coming in here on a Saturday morning and starting our weekend with Paul!

Stop on by if you get a chance.  

AMW

Heads up: PMS

Alright - heads up to any of my guy readers!  Tune out now if you can't handle the low down....

Ladies - fess up!  Who out there suffers from PMS besides me?  I know I'm not the only one.

Ok, I also know that I'm probably not the only one who gets it BAD.  And when I say bad, I mean B-A-D!  Every month I think how nice it would be if someone just removed my innards.  Aside from the achy, crampy, generally miserable feeling, my hormones get all out of whack, and I've been known to, um, get close to the edge...  Turn into a BITCH.  (some might say that's an improvement...)  (others mights say *more* of a bitch...)

  

I don't mean to.  I don't like when it happens.  But the littlest things can set me off.  A sideways look.  A comment that otherwise would be fine.  But in the throws of PMS, they're just dangerous.  A simple TV commercial can make me burst into tears.  Or I can take a compliment the wrong way, and cry for an hour.  Insane, right???  Imagine living it!!

And being a smartass to begin with, when you throw PMS into the mix, then things sometimes come flying out of my mouth before I've ever had time to think about it.  Not good!

I've learned over the years, that sometimes it's best to sit quietly, and not say much during PMS.  This works for the most part, but then it draws a lot of attention when you aren't normally that quiet, and say, you're at a party.  Everyone wants to know what's wrong.  You don't really want to blurt out to everyone that you have PMS.  For me, it's hard not to snap at the millionth person who has asked me what was wrong.  

I've found a few things that help.  One is DRUGS.  No, not illegal ones.  Prescriptions.  But I haven't been to the DR in in a long time because of insurance reasons, so the good stuff has run out.  Then there is CHOCOLATE!  Copious amounts.  All forms and lots of it.  Another good tool?  Ben & Jerry's Creme Brulee ice cream.  No other flavor helps me cope better than this one. 

If you've ever been in my path, I apologize.  I'll also apologize in advance just in case we ever cross paths while I'm in this state of mind.  It's definitely not personal.  

Just throw chocolate, and run in the other direction.  

AMW

PS - Milk chocolate is my favorite, and preferably with no nuts.  I also like Twix, and Reeses!  :)

Completely Random Update

Well, I sure have been delinquent in my blogging, haven't I?  Have I lost all of my readers?  All 2 of you?  LOL!!  Kidding!  I hope there's at least 3...

This is likely to be a complete hodge-podge random update.  

It's been an extremely busy summer!  A friend is staying at our house for a bit, so there is the dynamics of a third person.  Kind of strange, as there have only been two of us in the house for 3 years.  We're adjusting.  I'm not sure if I've ever lived with someone that shows signs of ADD and OCD.  It certainly makes for an interesting combination.

Since it's summertime - there have been lots of "gatherings"!   Several have been birthdays with pool parties that have been fun beyond words.  There have been impromptu "porch" nights, dinner at friends houses, and a near-weekly breakfast at Paul's Restaurant.  (I promise a FULL post with pictures about Paul's in the not-to-distant future.)

Our ADD/OCD houseguest has an over abundance of energy, and has a list of projects she's working on at our house.  She just re-roofed one of our sheds, edged the front brick walk with a shovel, cleaned and re-organized the back patio, and has dug up an overgrown flower garden, complete with pulling out bushes with her truck.  Did I mention she's only been with us for 3 weeks???  For her next trick - she'll do cartwheels while simultaneously cooking a gourmet meal for 100 of our closest friends in between re-grouting all three bathrooms!  She moves too fast for pictures, so there will be no photographic evidence.  

Work has been a bit on the stressful side.  Without dwelling on it too much, I'll just say that even though I own my own business, I still have to do what others tell me to do.  The owners of the building that pay my contract have had some requests lately that are affecting business.  And since business is already slow due to the economy, well, let's just say that it's nearing the painful stage.  I'll get through it.

My Casey-Dog (who is 13, by the way!) has started having a little more issues.  Her hips are bothering her more, and she's taking to chewing herself raw in spots.  And this is a dog that doesn't take kindly to your trying to help her.  If you try to clean a sore spot, she's likely to turn around an nip!  I've never bathed her...  I've always taken her to a groomer.  And clean her ears?  No thank you!  They can muzzle her at the vet, or they can risk the nibble that she'll give them.  So imagine when we take her to the vet, and the vet says to clean the area twice a day, and apply this cream.  Oh, and don't let her lick it.   Hmmm....  This poses yet another problem!  We all know that most dogs dislike the plastic collars, but my dog FREAKS.OUT.  Yeah, having her die of a heart attack from the stress of a plastic collar kinda defeats the purpose.  So I've tried just about everything!  What works?  When we're home, we keep her on a leash, so we can monitor her every move.  When we go to work, I put a doggy diaper on her that covers her raw hip, with a piece of gauze under it for a little more protection.  That was after trying a t-shirts (put on her backwards), and soft collar, and self-adhesive gauze.  All of those were not pretty either.  She's not thrilled with the doggy diaper, but she tolerates it.  We go back for a follow-up visit today.

Overall, the summer has been fantastic!  There are still more parties to attend before the summer is over.  We got invited to THREE for this Saturday, alone.  We can only make it to one, which is a bummer, but there are more lined up!

And then......  BOWLING starts up!  I know you can hardly wait for the weekly bowling updates, can you?????

What summer fun have you been up to?  Leave a comment here for me!

AMW

Score one for the trailer hitch!

Well it was bound to happen sooner or later....

This morning on my normal commute into work, I was rear-ended.  I have to travel through the HRBT to and from work, and it's just not any fun.  It's almost always bumper to bumper traffic, stop and go from the moment I get on the interstate, and sometime even through town to get to the interstate.  

I had just passed the last on-ramp, when traffic stopped again.  I stopped.  Looked behind me and a girl in a white Mazda 6 stopped.  Behind her, the Dodge Ram with a trailer, did not stop in time.  He hit the Mazda 6, and she in turn hit me.  I saw it  and heard it coming.  We moved the cars to the shoulder, and got out to look.  The Mazda took the worst of it, cause she was in the middle.  We called the police, and got them on the way.

I checked out my car, and could see where her license plate had hit my trailer hitch.  Her license plate frame was hanging around the ball on my hitch, and her plate was bent pretty good.

But I couldn't see anything on my car except the paint from her license plate on my trailer ball.  I opened and closed all my doors, to make sure they were all working, and they were.  So as far as I can tell, my trailer hitch took most of the hit.

The trooper came, and did all of his stuff, and told us that he wouldn't be filing a report because the damage wasn't significant enough.

So 45 minutes later, there I was heading into work...

I'm already stiffening up, and will be sore tomorrow, no doubt.  Most likely because I saw it coming, and braced myself.  But all things considered, I think I'm ok!  Just not the way I wanted to start the day...

AMW

Camping Weekend

For the 4th of July holiday weekend, we decided to go camping.  We didn't go far, just far enough to get away...  Rather than ramble on, I'll narrate through pictures....  (you can click on any of the pics for a better view)

When we first got there, a dragonfly perched itself on the 

Yellow Jeep.  We tried to get a good picture, but this was the 

best we got...

This one was with the flash, but I thought it 

turned out kinda cool looking!

We saw an abundance of them throughout the weekend

and they even came and landed on one of our guests hand!

They really made themselves at home at our site,

which was a lot of fun.

I've always heard that they will keep the bugs at bay,

but it didn't work out that way this weekend.

As you can see from just one of my feet, 

the bugs took over!  We were literally bitten 

from head to toe!

Camping and sushi!  Doesn't everyone do this???

Here's our setup for the weekend.  We try to

make it homey...

My hammock strung between two trees

was a source of naps as well!

There was ALWAYS a campfire going.

Another attempt to keep the bugs at bay.

Campground looks empty at this campfire.

Our eating arrangements.  We moved the bikes at chowtime.

Our table right before our departing breakfast.

Yes, we had fresh flowers on the table...  Why not?

Our new camping stove!  Made great use of it!!!

Our new friend.  Her name is #48!  She could really cook...

Despite the many, many, many bug bites, we really had a good time.  Can't wait to do it again, soon!

Quilt pictures

As promised - here are the pictures of the latest completed quilt.  It was a big challenge, but I'm glad I worked through it.  There are several different techniques in this one including machine piecing, machine applique, fabric painting, hand quilting, machine quilting, and even embroidery for the tag (which I forgot to take a picture of).  

AMW

Projects

I've been working on a few things here and there.  Nothing out of the ordinary, just some projects.  Most of them quilt related.  Did I mention that before?  That I quilted?  Don't think so, but I think most of you who read this already knew that...

I took some pictures (but forgot to put them somewhere I could access them at work) of a recently completed quilt.  This one took WAAAAYYY too long to finish.  I would get stumped by how to do something, and until I worked through it, I walked away from it.  I really need to work on working through it better.

I've got a few more planned, and hopefully, I can get working on them soon.  What's on tap?  A baby's "I SPY" quilt.  A "polka-dot" quilt.  Maybe a "jar" quilt.  I've got designs for them all.  

The baby quilt is the most pressing, as the the little bundle of joy will be home in just a few weeks.  I only found out about his arrival a few weeks ago, so there's a bit of a rush for that one.  Not too bad, as they live a few hours away, so we don't see them very often.

The polka-dot quilt will take a while.  It's going to be queen sized, with ALL polka-dotted fabric.  Lights, darks, mediums, big dots, little dots, solid dots, loud dots.  Should be a really fun looking quilt when it's finished.  Will probably take me a year or more to finish.  I have a feeling there will be quite a bit of handwork on this one and not as much machine work until the squares are finished.

So a "jar" quilt in the mean time might be just the thing to bridge the gaps, and to make a nice table runner.  This one will probably be able to be done almost completely by machine, so it will be nice to have a project that will go quicker.

Pictures - I promise I'll take lots of pictures.  

I'm certainly not the best quilter - but I enjoy it.  I just found out that the lady who I learned from, Edith Hughes, is still teaching.  I took a class with her 11 years ago, and I'm sure she was in her 80's then.  She is surely in her 90's now, and STILL TEACHING!  Wow!  And apparently still driving, and in good health...   I always loved the spunk in that little woman.  I need to visit her soon, I suppose.

Guess I've rambled on enough.  What projects are you working on?

AMW

What's new?

Not much!  

Really, there isn't anything going on.  It's pretty quiet, what with bowling being over for the summer, and no plans in the immediate future.  

I'd really like to get out camping, but the camper needs some work done, and the guy hasn't called me back yet.  But a nice relaxing camping weekend away would be great!

And surprisingly, we don't have any big trips planned for the summer.  It's kind of odd...  I think as of this moment, we don't have a single trip planned for the summer.  Really odd, come to think of it.  Perhaps that's why I'm itching for a camping weekend so bad..

Anyhoo - if anything fun comes up, I'll keep you posted.  For now, I'll just try to keep up with the Thousand Word Thursday pictures.

AMW

Thousand Word Thursday

I've loved this picture since I took it.  It was taken from an upper window in an old lighthouse that was only accessible by boat, the island comprised of the many rocks and boulders that you see.  When we got up to the window, the contrast of the colored kayaks against the wet and dry rocks delighted me, and I took this picture.

The lighthouse (and island) are now completely closed to the public.  I consider myself very fortunate to have visited it several times before the restriction set in.

AMW

Thousand Word Thursday

Sometimes - The Thousand Word Thursday takes several pictures:

While traveling around the state a couple of years ago, we came across this berry farm that had goats.  Since goats like to climb - the owners created a single lane ramp with elevated stopping points for the goats that actually went over a working road.  They don't fall, and head-butt each other to move to get out of the way.  Fun, fun, fun to watch!  Wanna check it out?  VisitWestmoreland Berry Farm in Oak Grove,VA. 

AMW