The Flu

Bad news; we have the flu around here. 

Sophie and Dustball are fine though.  Everyone else in the house has a hurt head and feels like throwing up at the mere mention of f o o d.  Including me-- BLAH.

Besides being ill with what I hope is just a short lived virus, I've been busy sorting through stuff.  Trying to decide what I'm keeping and what I'm not.

I found an old hat box with... you guessed it... old hats.  :)

Also a set of new gloves; yay!  

I am thinking I may be a borderline hoarder wanna be.  It's doubtful I'll ever wear a bridal headpiece.  Yet, why do I feel like keeping it??  I guess because it's vintage and pretty.  Heck, it's not even from my own wedding. 

I like this one too:

Looking at bridal stuff makes me want to get married.  Okay, that's it, they must be sold.  (I've already been married 2.5 times to the same guy, and going for 3 he's apt to throw in the towel.)     

Now the vintage black velvet hat on the other hand provokes no marital thoughts whatsoever.  Therefore, it's a Keeper.  :)

In other news, Troy has new ride, that he is borrowing from a friend:

It's his first time riding a mini bike.  I had just called Mom to come over and operate on my foot.  She's been preforming surgeries for years now.  Anyways, I had a piece of glass in the bottom of my foot and she fixed me up.  Then Gladdie, comes inside screaming, because a wasp had stung her in the eye.  After we got her set up with an ice pack.  Troy comes in and invites us all to watch him learn to ride a mini bike.  We thought maybe Mom was going to be preforming surgeries all night, but it turned out that Troy's a pretty good driver.

 

Do Ya'all remember the pawpaw I bought at a farmers market in Bucanon, Michigan?   Well, it never ripened how I thought it would.  It just turned this color and became hard as a rock.?. 

With us being sick here, no one has much of an appetite anyways.  Except Sophie.  Have I ever told Ya'all that she loves tissues?  She does.

Tissues are her favorite thing to DESTROY!   If someone sneezes in the house, Sophie will run over to them, and when they least expect it, she will steal their tissue.  Of course she denies doing such an act, but the proof is on her chin.

She's lucky she's such a cutie.  :)

Bi-lingual Frog

Hey You!  Yes, YOU.  Look up  ^   Pendleton Gal gets Fit is now changed to.... The Adventures of Valparaiso Gal.  So far, all that I plan to change is the blog title.  It just needed something a bit more suitable. 

One thing I really like about being back home is the proximity of Bass Pro Shop (BPS).  It's one of our (Sophie and I) favorite stores to browse.

I went in one a mission for black Sluggo's. I know what you're all thinking, "Why is a fly fishing gal needing black Sluggo's?"  The answer is this, my friends: I need to catch a large mouth bass! 

Sadly, Bass Pro no longer carries them.  I guess I'll just have to make do with what I got in my tackle box or take my chances with something from the zillion choices they do have to offer.

You see, my trouble is this: 

Nope, look beyond the spider webs.  One of my favorite fishing spots has so much vegetation that it is hard to reach the fish.  Now I am not one to back away from a good challenge.  I do need a fair shot though, and top water flies, in this weed mess, isn't the answer.

Sure, nymphing gills is fun, but I need to satisfy my bass craving. 

Jean and I thought we would do something unusual (for us) and try using bait.  We planned on catching a small goldfish for  a companion to Troy's aquatic frog.  He used to have two aquatic frogs, but one of them recently passed away.

 

The bait parfait was very appealing to a bullfrog, who suddenly lunged at the bee moth on my hook.  Jean took pics with her phone, but I was unable to upload them.  Anyway, the frog looked just like this pic I borrowed from the Internet:

So, since I accidentally hooked the poor frog, I had to free him.  I'm not scared of touching frogs, it  just takes me a minute, or ten, to warm up to them a bit.  Plus, this hooked frog was particularly slimy, as it was swimming in duckweed.  After warming up to him, I placed my hand gently around his mid section, and to my surprise, he MOOOOoooooooooooed!   Of course, that completely freaked Jean and I out.  What happened to the good ole ribbit?  Luckily, I managed to remove the hook from the bi-lingual frog.  Weird.

Reunion & ALS Ice Challenge

Hey Everyone!

Yesterday was a family reunion day with a potluck lunch at my Uncle Bobby's place.  I made baked beans in the crock pot and threw together a grape salad to share:

It's one of those recipes that is so easy you don't really need a recipe for it.  All it consists of is grapes, (I used green and black), whipped honey-nut cream cheese spread, powdered sugar, and a bit of milk.  Also, I topped it with a few strawberries, just to dress it up a bit.  Simply mix the cream cheese spread, dab of milk, and powdered sugar (to your taste), then fold in the grapes. That's all there is to it!  :)

Uncle Bobby is my favorite uncle on my mother's side of the family. 

Him and his lovely wife Laurie host the reunion every year and I look forward to it.

I like how they have cats, as their kids (why didn't I think of that?).  JK  :) 

Amazingly, with three kids, I mean cats, their house is always nice n tidy.  At least it was until we got there...  We took a break from the muggy and humid weather with a game of Headbands inside, in the ac.  No idea why Roni and Jean are honking noses.  They randomly do crazy stuff like that and it's starting to no longer even phase me.  :)

Getting back to the cats...

This one tried to eat my camera, as I had it on the floor next to me:

And poor Butterscotch may still be quivering in the living room corner from Jean tormenting him with her toes. 

While we were all innocently inside tormenting the cats, Bobby's son, Mathew, challenged all of us to the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge.

In case Ya'all didn't know, ice water is soooo freezing cold!!!

My Uncle Bobby is a real trooper though, and he helped awareness for Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), often referred to as "Lou Gehrig's Disease," grow.

Bobby, in turn, challenged the entire Porter County SELF school.  :)

Jean challenged the Cooperider boys and the youth group from the Pendleton church.

Roni challenged the twins, I had encouraged her to throw Jolene and John in that challenge too, (it's the Aunt in me).  Technically, I think it is only the twins that are facing a wet bucket of ice thanks to their Mom.

I challenged Grace and Joe.  Gladys challenged AJ and Jacob.  I will also mention, for the record, that Glenn and Troy took the challenge too.  Glenn challenged Hub, and Troy challenged Sammy.

Brrrrrr----Refreshing!!!  :)  This gal never knows what will happen at a family reunion. 

The rest of the afternoon we played Bocce Ball.... and tried our best to not break the neighbors windows.  :)

Bocce ball was fun and I am new at playing it.  Basically, it's a ball toss game where the winner is the one who's ball is closest to the little white ball.

We played until storms came rolling in.

Cherish your family Folk's!  Even if they dump freezing cold ice water over your head, ya still gotta love em.  :)

Celebrations-- Continued

Ahh, Fishing!

 

I arrived at the lake about 9AM, because I had to make a quick stop at the school for the kids.

The first little gill totally made my day.  I was like-- "Wooohoooo, YES, it's a FISH!".

The little sunbathing turtle rolled his eyes at me and thought I was nuts.

All the fish I caught were fairly small.

No matter, I was in THE ZONE!  Catching fish, relaxing, and most importantly celebrating the first day of school.  :)

As I fished, a giant carp, I mean a GIANT carp, came swimming by.  Big fish, even carp, make my heart race when I see them up close.

  

After a few hours of picking on the fish, (all were released to swim on), I went back to enjoy my quiet house.  

Oh, and I took a minute to think the thought of a new blog name-- The Adventures of Valparaiso Gal.

:)