THIS ONLY MEANS ONE THING...

We are on our way to Penn State. We made our normal stop off at Martin's for snacks and to pee.

While Katy is at home with her new boy we are in state college with her old one. I love Other Joe and his man bun. I really do…

… but he's as scattered with his packing skills as I am. He met us down at the car and said he got a lot packed up and we got upstairs and there was shit everywhere. It was a little overwhelming. He and I were just all over the place - throwing things in bags… going from drawer to drawer. Chrissy just wanted to clean. It was kind of funny…

…and a little sad.  You know me. I had to sigh when I saw things like this….

… or the randomness of this.

I found things in my grandmother's dresser drawers I didn't want to see and I have to admit I got a little choked up at the bond of union Escher poster on the wall.

Talk about a full circle experience… we went apartment hunting with them and moved everything in and moved all of HER stuff out and now we're back getting the rest of it.  I went to take the poster off the wall behind the bedroom door…

...and the same thoughts went through my mind as they did almost a year ago!

You know, there's always something there to remind me.

I was packing things up and I swear I saw a pic of Shawna in a KDR shirt. Maybe I imagined it.  I took things off the walls like this…

… and this.

And these friggin things that were up with 700 pieces of rubber cement.  You owe me, Katherine.  No one but you and I would have meticulously taken these off the wall…

… and positioned them between individual sheets of paper.

It was an exhausting day…mentally and physically. There was only one way to end it - with a stop here.

RUNNING LATE

First of all, who the fuck planned this stupid liberty mile race?  I had a trip tonight to The Benedum. Our driver was stuck... I was jumping out of the bus yelling at the police.... Chrissy had called me earlier at work to tell us the roads were going to be blocked but I didn't think it was going to be that bad - I  had her on the phone with a map trying to get us around town… We finally just stopped and wheeled everyone a couple blocks.

4 minutes to run the stupid mile and 40 minutes to drive it. Stupid.

Even though we missed the first 15 minutes or so all my peeps enjoyed themselves.

I usually love Millennials but a few of them were annoying the hell out of me tonight. On our hike to the show a couple (drunk) ones were goo goo gaa gaa-ing as were walking down the street - telling the ladies they looked so cute and just weirdness. I wanted to punch someone.  At intermission there were a few show-goers talking about their seats and referring to "ORCH CENT" and  other weird terms and then one said - I thought there was supposed to be 80s music in here. I haven't heard any yet. I never appreciated being with a bunch of old people more in my life. I'm pooped.

LOST KENNYWOOD
I have been off for 11 days in a row!  Came back to work the evening tonight - my job: going to Kennywood! It was my trip so I put Glo on the list.  She really had no idea where she was.

She also had no idea what to do with the corn dog I got her but she did enjoy her french fries!

We got everyone on the train.

It was like putting a rag doll on. She's starting to not know who I am, it seems. Sometimes she does - sometimes she doesn't. All she talks about is going to see my mother but I'm not sure she's actually talking about my mother or her mother because she usually introduces me as her sister so I'm not sure if she thinks I am my mother. Did you follow that?  It's all very confusing.

This is a sin to say… at what point are you better off dead? I'm glad I never watched my mother deteriorate like this. She's getting worse day by day. I stopped up before I left the other day and she was just playing with her food. It was like she didn't know what to do with it. I had to stay and feed her.

I left there thinking - if I live that long, which I doubt I will, will there be anyone to feed me?  Sad, in every way. ;-(

JUNKING WITH THE MURPHY'S
Chrissy called and said there was a sale we needed to go to.  Now that she's all fancy with a new iPhone, she sent me this picture…

I really should have stayed put and did laundry and caught up on things since we just got back but what did I do?  Went junking.

She and Ted and Cara and I were off…  It's that place on the side of the road we've passed a million times.

We stopped at the Jonnet Flea Market first and I got a few good things. This mini toaster to go with my mini phone - the toaster is actually a salt and pepper shaker. 

I'm always on the hunt for religious figures and I found these two… $2 (left) from an old convent and $1(right) for the other. 

This was kind of weird and disturbing… 

...on that chair is a bird. We weren't sure if it was stuck on it or stuck on the rope but I was freaking. The poor thing is going to be many miles from his friends and family. Uggh.  I wish I would have screamed out the window! 

ON THE ROAD
My favorite colors are blue white and green. I think because it reminds me of driving around in the car.  I'm not sure if I like gray roads or pink roads better. This was a little of both and made my heart happy.

I like to go into random little towns and look around and find interesting things.  Like this giant rooster!

I felt a little reckless at times - I was pulling over and turning around in the middle of the road to get barn pics…  or just taking pics out of the window.. I missed this action shot of the machine moving the toasted marshmallows. So sad.

I had just driven through a corn field because I was on a mission… I saw this YARD SALE sign pointing me down a little road.

I had no idea where I was.  I was able to find my way back so I was proud of my mapping and location skills.  Once I got back into town, I found a thrift shop. All the proceeds went to an animal charity. I had to stop and get a few things.

Finally, I was driving back to the house and got to about here and had a panic attack.

I realized I was out for a few hours, no one had any idea where I had gone, my pup was at home and a thought popped into my head...

What if a giant dome comes down and traps me here?!?!

Thank you, Stephen King. Thank you.

BARN LOVE
I know my way around Deep Creek well enough to be dangerous.  I run to the grocery store a lot while we are there (you know me and grocery stores) and went to WalMart and went out a couple times to search for the Barn Quilts

Some were easy to find.

Others, not so much.

Luckily I found the GPS. I'm not real great with maps.  Chrissy has taught me a few things so I am getting better. I know my directions a little better and I set my mileage now to know how long it should be to get someplace. I'm working on it. ;-)  Anyway, I was on a wild goose chase for some of them. The addresses were wrong and I was up and down dirt roads only to find a new development or absolutely nothing. I think they need to update their brochure!  I thought The Dad was bored so I asked if he wanted to come along one day.  I loaded him and The Bud in the car and we were off - I pulled over at the barn and called the number to get the history and facts and out of the corner of my eye I see The Dad twirling his finger in the air like whoop-dee-doo this is so f-ing stupid.  I took him right back to the house.  Lily and I went on our way without him. Don't make fun of my barn tour, mister. ;-)

DOE A DEAR
There were little babies and their mom that would come visit the backyard every day… This was one of the babies.

I was driving around the other day and saw a babe dead on the road a little past the house. I'm not sure if it was this or the other one but later in the week the mom would come around - without the little ones.

I just watched her - alone in the yard. The only thing I could think of was - do mama dear mourn the death of their babies? I'm sure there's some research on that somewhere that I could google. It's just been on my mind.

HULK SMASH
I decided I would bring one book and one magazine with me and some art stuff and my class, of course, so I felt like I wasn't bogged down. One time I brought 2 crates of "papers" with me to organize!   Anyway, I've had this book since it came out and just picked it back up a couple weeks ago.

I always had a thing for bookmarks. This little guy is one of my favorites.

Don't you just love his big old head?

I can't focus to save my life. I got through about 3 pages so far… at least this little one is keeping me company.

COMFORTS OF HOME

Even I crack myself up, some times, with the amount of stuff I bring.  As I said, I'm not a light packer - I like to have my stuff around me.  My childhood teddy bear,  Paul, always comes along on trips. That little frame with RoseBud's pic has traveled all over. I am always losing ponytail holders so I started putting them in a ring holder and it's one of my favorite things. I probably didn't need it for a week away, but it makes me happy. I bought a few of those heart dishes for my friends and had to get myself one, of course, so I thought I would put it to use with some spare change.  Mum used to always bring quarters away with her and I do too because of her. You never know when a game of left, right, center is going to start up. ;-)

CAMPFIRE STORIES

Getting ready to make a fire…

The Bud supervised the boys...

…Keep calm and get your s'mores on.

CALL ME WHEN YOU HAVE NO CLASS
We have rented this house before… the bedrooms are great - all king master suites - but the beds are 100 feet off the ground so The Bud has a hard time getting on and off.  She's a little cranky about it.

We decided to go downstairs in the extra room and work on my class…

She's a good study partner…

I am so far behind. I got a lot done, though, but had to stop to get these guys ready…

… that only means one thing -  Dr Pepper Ribs!

PS. They were delicious.

Later, The Dad gave Sharon a biscotti lesson.

Yum-O