- Graham came in a little bit before midnight last night. Brooklyn dropped him off so she came in and visited for a bit. We continued visiting after she headed back home. I guess that it was midnight when he said that he was hungry. When your one of your babies has been gone for months and comes home hungry, you make him a grilled cheese sandwich even if it is at 12:30.
- The girls and even Whitman came down to the kitchen to catch up for a bit. It was nice. When we finally did get to bed, it was pretty late. This morning started as usual, and I seemed to be doing school most of the morning long. Sometimes I get a break where I can do a few things around the house, and some days I'm busy all morning long with school, and this was one of those days.
- After lunch I did take a walk. I made it home just in time to take a shower before Reagan got home. Of course, Graham was in my shower so I quickly took one upstairs. When she came home, we visited for a little bit, but she soon migrated upstairs. That is pretty much where she has been since coming home.
- Graham asked to go to Costco this afternoon and even put the hashtag #fallbreak in his text, so of course I couldn't pass that up. Keaton joined us too, and after eating every sample in the place and spending 40 dollars we came home (fruit snacks and joggers for Graham, bread for the house, and chicken bakes, cookies, churros, or ice cream for the kids)
- We hurried home, and Graham and Robby went to look at cars. They found one, but the radio and back up camera didn't work. Hopefully, they will be able to look a bit more this weekend because I know that Graham is getting ready for a car.
- Before I left this afternoon, I waited on Anderson to come in. I was only able to see him for a little bit, and then Keaton and I left for Nonna and Pops' house. We visited with the birthday boy, Pops, for a bit and even delivered some of Campbell's cupcakes from yesterday.
- Then it was on to church for Keaton and me with a stop at the outlets for her to pick up an order. Whitman and Campbell were not far behind. She worked this afternoon, but the photography business is fairly slow right now, so she came home earlier than usual.
- After church, Campbell, Keaton, and Whitman all went to ChickFilA and so did Robby. We were doing some trip planning with Lynne and some chatting. Then we got gas for Reagan and Anderson's cars before heading home.
- Of course, Campbell and I had a few math problems to do tonight to finish what we didn't finish today. That didn't take too long, and all the college kids were upstairs so it was quiet downstairs when I finally came into my bedroom to work on the blog.
October 21, 2026
October 20, 2026
- I had a doctor's appointment for my shoulder this morning. It had been bothering me for months so even though I was pretty sure it was frozen shoulder, I was glad to go to the doctor and hear that it was indeed frozen shoulder.
- He gave me a steroid shot; Robby had one for his frozen shoulder and acted like it made a huge difference. When the doctor was giving it to me, he said that I would feel some relief this afternoon-LIES, ALL LIES!
- It felt strange after the shot and by the time that I drove home from my morning out, I was having to use my left hand to put my right hand up on the gear shift to put the car in park or drive. It was getting uncomfortable when I did math with Campbell, but by the time that I was trying to work with Whitman; it was kidney stone pain.
- I was getting a bit panicky about how I was going to make it through the rest of the day. I asked ChatGPT about it, and they suggested calling the doctor back. I opted to not do that and tried to take a nap. I had gone from being able to manage well with my arm's limited range of motion to not being able to move my arm an inch or two either way.
- I wasn't able to go to sleep, but I just decided that I was going to stay busy. By the time that Robby made it home, my arm was feeling some better-it is not nearly as good as when I went this morning, but it is better than this afternoon. So currently, I'm not sold on a steroid shot.
- After I left the doctor's office, I went to see Pops who was waiting on Jason to finish his doctor's appointment. I then ran to Walmart to pick up a few things (October care packages for my school people) and then hurried back to meet Pops.
- We visited for a while longer, and then he headed to meet Nonna for his doctor's appointment while I took Jason home from his doctor's appointment. I then went home and started on school with the kids-I just checked what had to be checked, except when it got to Whitman's math when my should was hurting like crazy. I just told him that he had done enough, and we were skipping the rest of it. He didn't protest at all, and since I know that he can do it I won't lose any sleep over it.
- When the girls finished school work, they went to but some fingernail polish for Campbell's homecoming. I do believe that she spent more on polish today than Nonna, Grannymom, and I have ever spent on nail polish in our entire lives combined.
- Laynie came over for a bit, and when she left I made grilled cheese for everyone. Well, I made Campbell a grilled cheese then and a grilled cheese later actually. She was showing me her nails while holding her sandwich, and Marley could take no more of it-she snuck herself a good bite of Campbell's sandwich. Campbell was furious, but it only took a few minutes to make her another one.
- Tonight the big activity is cleaning the kids' bathroom-hopefully, this project takes less than the 3-4 hours that last night's cleaning of the girls' room took. We are expecting 30-60 minutes. Wish us luck!
October 19, 2026
- I barely remembered to set my alarm last night, and even with it going off on time, I still waited as long as I could to get out of the bed. I didn't have to empty the dishwasher this morning so that is why I felt I had 30 extra minutes to stay in the bed-though emptying the dishwasher surely doesn't take 30 minutes even when it is Thanksgiving full.
- We soon started on our school work. Campbell worked for a few minutes before she left to eat breakfast with the friend. After that she went to Walmart, and did buy a few things that I needed. She had work this afternoon, so thankfully she doesn't have work tomorrow so she can catch up on some school work.
- Keaton made it through her school work though Whitman took a little bit longer. He did still pause in the middle to help me put a lamp together. He finished one book today, so I gave him a choice about which one to read next. He was trying his best not to hurt my feelings when he said neither of them. I wasn't too upset that he nixed my choices because I then showed him a shelf full of other choices.
- The afternoon seemed to fly by mainly because I spent a good deal of time walking. I just walked 3 miles, but I'm not a fast walker-plus I was trying to finish my audio book so I might have even been walking slower than usual.
- The entire evening was spent in the girls' room. It is cleaner than it ever has been before. We basically acted like we were moving and got most everything out and then reorganized it. It took absolutely forever, and then when we finished Robby and I started on the boys room-he vacuumed while I changed all of the sheets.
- It was a long night, but now we are on the couch...and I'm about to fall asleep!
October 18, 2026: The Month of Camping-Trip 3
Last night when we went to bed, both dogs were in the bed, and there were no room for us at all. Seriously, my legs were hanging off the edge. It came down to a dog or two were leaving the bed or I was leaving the bed. Robby tried to get Bentley to leave, but she growled at him because she had no intentions of sleeping in the front of the camper all by herself. Finally, he was able to get her to leave, and we were able to stretch out just a bit.
We did sleep well but I was up a few times to go to the bathroom. I even text Anderson some in the middle of the night. When we woke up, it was pretty sad because we had to go ahead and get up to get ready to go home. l
Robby started working on everything outside the camper while I worked on things inside. We then took the dogs on a short walk right before I left. I had to stop at two Krogers on the way home plus I even stopped at Buccees. This all put me home about 30 minutes later than Robby.
When I drove up, Robby was already working hard unloading the camper while Campbell and Keaton were washing the white car. They were really working at it, so I whispered to them the obvious question, "are y'all in trouble?" They were not in the trouble but had asked to wash the car.
I quickly unloaded the van, and then I turned around the leave again. I picked up Sara and Amber, and we went to Tales of the Crypt at Mt. Holly Cemetery. Students from Parkview dressed up and told about the lives of some of the people at the cemetery-it was really well done, and we all enjoyed it. We did probably enjoy all of the visiting while in the line more though.
Once I came home, I worked on picking up the house. I had left the kitchen a mess so I put everything away and did my best to get ready for tomorrow. I did crash about 40 minutes before it was time to go to the Wilson's house and even squeezed in a little nap.
Tony had made supper tonight so we enjoyed eating and visiting. We watched some football as we talked. We did go home a bit earlier than usual and caught up with the girls once we were home. Now, the living room is quiet, and I think that we are headed towards the bed.....but no dogs in my bed tonight.
October 17, 2026: The Month of Camping-Trip 3
I went to sleep last night at 10:30-what in the world? That is a few hours earlier than usual for me, and it was absolutely wonderful. I might even go to sleep that early tonight too. Of course, after all of that sleep you would have thought that I woke up early, but I did not!
We snoozed this morning until we had to hurry to get around. Robby had EEE Dad's day so I drove him to OBU and then came back to the campground. He found Reagan, and they ate tacos and participated in a corn hole tournament. There were quite a few people there, but I think that it was a little more relaxed than mom's day so they had fun.
I met them back at Reagan's dorm. Whitman opted to skip the ballgame today. Robby and I used Pops' tickets and found our way to their seats. We also used their parking pass, and I think that we got the last spot in the special parking lot-we were there a little bit late.
Reagan was skipping the game, Graham was working the jumpys, and Anderson was cheering with his friends. It took us a while to find Anderson, and when Graham was finished he did come and talk to us. After we were sitting down, we did notice that Graham's girlfriend was on the aisle across from us-so when Graham came up to see us, he had a choice to make: mother or girlfriend. He made the right one-me!
The good boy did visit with us for a few minutes, and then he quickly found Brooklyn and went to eat with her. Meanwhile, Anderson never even made it up to see us. I'm only kidding though because those boys are having the time of their lives....as I'm afraid their midterm grades will reflect!
Robby and I stayed for a few minutes of the third quarter before leaving the game. We then walked the Desoto Bluff Trail-this is where Pops talked about boys bringing girls to see the submarine races when he was in college at Ouachita. (Google told me that is a mid twentieth century term for making out.)
The trail was just a quarter of a mile to the end. It overlooked the river-possibly the caddo river, but there was a really nice pavilion at the end of the trail. It was really a neat spot-Anderson new about it, but I'm not sure if Reagan or Graham have walked it.
Once we were back at the camper, we walked the dogs and then played a few more rounds of Mahjong. Robby won one, and I won one. I think that we almost talked Whitman in to learning but maybe another day.
We then walked the dogs a bit more before coming in and making supper (frozen french bread pizzas) and watching the hogs. Whitman and I made corn husks dolls since that was a project from his history box. Now, the ice cream has been pulled out of the fridge!
October 16, 2026: The Month of Camping-Trip 3
I wasn't sure how well we would sleep last night because we started out the night with Marley and Bentley in our bed. It was a bit crowded, and I think that we were all going to wait it out to see who left first. Robby and I both thought that we would be the ones to cave and leave first, but eventually one of the dogs did.
I actually can't tell you which one of them left because when it is as dark as it is in the camper, you can't see much at all. I wasn't able to tell which dog was still in the bed with us, but I did know that it was a big one which doesn't narrow things down much at all.
We stayed in bed as long as we could this morning, and the dogs were not even that ready to go out when we did take them for a walk. We ate our breakfast and then made a walk around the loop. We have bought Marley a new harness so she will not pulls, and it is magical. We would pay double or triple what we paid for it-it is a bit large so it works best when she has on her regular harness too which kind of makes her look special with two harnesses on and a collar.
The first order of business this morning was teaching Robby how to play Mahjong. The weather was nice, but a bit windy, so we sat outside. He played two games and won one of them. I just barely beat him the second time. When we finished, we text Anderson, and he came to the campground for a while.
We sat inside and visited for a few hours. We even did a little bit of work on his degree plan. When he did leave, we had to load his car down with things for Reagan and Graham. Robby and I then ran around town to pick up a Sonic burger for Whitman and a drink for us.
When we came back, Robby and I ate our butter chicken while watching tv. Then I did some sewing work, and now we are getting ready to get in the bed-I have to get my spot before a dog does.
October 15, 2026: The Month of Camping-Trip 3
I could hear Keaton and Campbell's alarm going off above my head this morning as I was moving around in the kitchen. I had been up for a little bit, but I still moved pretty slowly. I did realize that not having the dogs at home in the mornings saves me at least 20 minutes. I do miss them when they are gone....a tiny little bit.
Keaton and Campbell left for work, and then Whitman and I started on school. We did our morning reading, and then he started on his work. While he was working, I made some muffins for Anderson. He had text yesterday mentioning how much everyone enjoyed my pumpkin muffins if I wanted to bring some more down this time. Of course, I made that baby some muffins.
Whitman finished school (most of it) around 1 so we started moving pretty quickly and headed towards Degray. Campbell and Keaton finished MDO early so they headed to buy flowers. It was senior night so Campbell made a beautiful bouquet for Graham to give to Brooklyn.
Anderson was even in Little Rock for a little bit tonight. I do find it funny that when we are in Arkadelphia, most of my kids manage to make their way to Little Rock. I'm only kidding since we will see both of them at least once this weekend plus fall break is next weekend, and I think that everyone is coming home except for Reagan.
This evening, I read some, did my sticker book, and even sewed a little bit on a lamp while listening to a book. There is nothing better than camper living. Whitman and I tried to make a German star, but that project failed. Robby and I took a few walks as well plus we have already had our ice cream for the night.
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