It ain't done til the smoke alarm goes off!

Dearest Shawna was so excited to cook dinner. She had text me earlier that day and asked if I would be interested in a veggie burger with a side of sweet potato fries. Heck yes, I would!! Especially if that means I don't have to cook it.

So... I'll set the scene for you... Shawna had just gotten back from the store and I had just spent the better part of the afternoon doing some much needed deep cleaning. Kitchen, vacuum, check. So I quickly get out of the way so she can have complete creative freedom. Maybe that wasn't such a good idea after all.

I had made some bread a few days before and in doing so had to place some foil on the rack below to catch anything (butter) that might run over. When I get too hungry I get super forgetful so I accidentally left the foil with the butter that had spilleth over in the oven. Shawna, not thinking anything of it, preheats the oven then sticks in her perfectly sliced sweet potato fries. Oven timer set, fries in 20 minutes!

Not just yet...

About half way through she decides she should probably remove the foil from the oven. Of course the butter is melted now and runs onto the bottom of the oven.

Still thinking nothing of it when smoke starts to pour out of the oven, Shawna turns on the overhead fan. I was in the other room and being alarmed by the smell of something burning come into the kitchen to see Shawna standing there with a slight look of bewilderment. I inquire as to 'what the hell,' she responds by opening up the oven to show me what happened.

Flames! Aaaaahhhhh!

Shawna yells out, "Flames! We have fire! Do we have a fire extiguisher?" I was getting ready to call the fire department (after the fire debacle we have had for the last few weeks) when she finds one luckily stashed under the sink. I grab it, take it outside and try to figure the damn thing out. These things are not very user friendly if you haven't ever used one before, just saying.

So Shawna figures it out, gets in a practice shot while outside, then opens up the oven to smother the fire in whatever is in fire extinguishers. Lemme just tell you, when you have to use one of those you had better be ready to scrub the entire kitchen with a toothbrush to get that stuff out of every crevice it can find. There was white-yellow dust EVERYWHERE! I locked Molly in a bedroom so at least she wouldn't have to breathe that toxic poison in, but Shawna and I were stuck in it. Thinking quickly (I AM an ICU nurse - those critical thinking skills ya know) I grab my bathroom towel and start fanning the fumes away from the smoke detector. In the grand scheme of things I don't know why this matters, but I guess I thought I was helping.

Due to the emergent nature of this situation, I was unable to capture the moment in real time with a photograph or video. Damn! So I had to pose Shawna instead.

Then last night she had a do-over. It was delicious. Perfectly done, Big T!!

I smell smoke, and it isn't Bar-be-cue

As some of you may know, we have had a recent outbreak of fires at our apartment complex. Considering there are about 32 buildings with approximately 500 apartments, we were in no immediate danger. One day as I was heading out to work, I saw a fire truck
 leaving the complex as well.

Huh, that's curious.

A few days later I was talking to a girl at work who was talking about the fires at Copper Pointe. Say what?? I live there! I then put 2 and 2 together...

About a week or so goes by and I am home alone while Shawna is working. All of a sudden I smell smoke, I swear of it. The thought ran through my head that it could be another fire and I should probably go check it out. But dangit, it was like 2 am and I was tired.

The next day I went to do laundry and the dang dryer cord was cut. I'm talking head of the plug was snipped off with a giant pair of scissors and left dangling there for me to 'find' with my bare foot. I guess the fire marshall ordered all the dryer cords to be replaced because this was thought to be the culprit. Guess they wanted to make sure no one inadvertantly used their dryer before the problem could be fixed. Unfortunately, they were unable to warn us so they made their pay dryers free to tennants during this whole ordeal.

They still haven't replaced the dryer plug. Dang, this is an inconvenience!

Birthday girls

March 28th, 1958 two very special women were born. First came Tina Marie followed just 3 minutes later by Lisa Ann. (Go Grandma!!) These women have shaped my life in so many ways. First because they are my mother and my aunt, but mostly because they are the women that have shown me what unconditional love truly means. All my friends growing up have said that they always feel welcome around these two. Everyone feels the warmth and instant love that wraps around them like a big metaphorical hug from the instant they meet these two special ladies. Thank you both for being my mentors, my friends, my heroes. I love you both very much.

I couldn't make it home for the actual day, so a few days later we celebrated with a small gathering of family at my Aunt Lisa's house. Here are just a few pictures of the evening followed by the only other picutres I took during this trip.

 Mr Camber James, always with a full fist in his mouth. Meanwhile, poor Trish tries to hide.

 The lovely ladies of honor. Lisa on the left, Tina (mom) on the right.

 A couple of my favorite people in the whole world. Grandma and Grandpa were so great to come home early from down South so they could be here for the event and time it with my visit back home. I couldn't think of anywhere I would rather be than sitting around that table sharing stories with them. It's one of my favorite pastimes. Especially after cracking open the presents I brought back for the birthday girls... home brew 'Ole Smoky Moonshine from TN.

 Everyone says they see a whole lot of Trish when they look at Camber... I see TJ. Such a cutie!

I have a tendency to tickle people to get them to smile in pictures.  Maybe I should stop doing this, but it always yeilds such results!! Plus there is nothing that tugs at your heart-strings more than a giggling baby.

 The newly engaged happy couple. They are the greatest and always feed me for dinner and let me drink all their wine. We stayed up late and discussed wedding details. Can't wait!!

 At a quick dinner the night before I left town with the fam. Miss Jayda has come to the age where she loves to be in pictures and then stare at herself in them. Looks like she'll turn out like me!

 Such a smiley baby, he is. Love it!

The closest it looks like I'll get to Chicago for a while... guess that slice of deep-dish pizza will have to wait a little longer.

Ride it!

For this post, we focus on the only two rides that we got to partake in. Those being the coal burning train and the carousel. We were a little boring, yes. But we had limited time!

 Two pretty ladies just on a quick train ride.

Don't know why, but I dig this photo.

Headed through the Smokies.

Warning: turn down your volume!

Check out the house on top of the hill! Could you imagine that view?

Before the train ride started the conductor did a full run through of the regulations of the ride. If there was a true medical emergency we were to pull the chord twice. But he did say, getting soot in your eye was not a medical emergency. WELL... out of all the people on the train, guess what lady with two thumbs that happens to? This girl. I missed 1/4 of the train ride because I was trying to pick out a chunk of sharp coal that was scratching my cornea. 

Riding my favorite animal on the carousel.

Riane, you woulda loved this!

Again, just a couple 'a fun-lovin chicks.

A replica of the Parton home. 

The kitchen with real items from the Parton household.

Does anyone know, does Dolly have a thing for butterflies or something?

I tried to talk her into this one.

This day will go down in the history books.

Shawna was so excited she couldn't contain herself. She selflessly waited until I could join her (thanks pal) for the adventure of Dollywood. For those of you who have not had the pleasure, it is a Dolly Parton themed amusement/water park set in her hometown of Pigeon Forge, TN.  Dolly was rumoured to be floating around during opening weekend, so Shawna had her eyeballs wide open for that cute little plastic surgery nightmare. I mean... Dolly is a sweetheart, I'm sure. And she has purely amazing music. 

 One more turn!

 The grand entrance.

 Can't you just read the enthusiasm in my body language!? If you can't hear the subtext of sarcasm in my typing, I'm not doing this right.

 They had a professional 'Stroller Watcher' with specified stoller parking. Wow, I'm surprised they didn't just say "Drop yer chillins hure!"

 This fellow has the unfortunate job of guessing ages and weights.

 He got mine wrong so I won a prize! Needless to say, you don't overshoot a woman's weight by a full 35 pounds! Not even to give me a cheesy toy. I wasn't planning on keeping the toy so Shawna suggested I find the first well-mannered child I see and give it to them. Ok, sounds like a plan!! I held onto the toy for quite some time...

 The auditorium for the Celtic show we went to see. Kinda like a bad Elvis impression of Riverdance with jazz hands.

Don't believe me? Here's a video. 

The people of Dollywood

We've all thought it... what the hell is that person thinking going out in public like that?! Well, Dollywood was a menagerie of poor decisions and aparently broken home mirrors. This wasn't even the half of it, only what I could snap off in the first few minutes before my camera died. I didn't quite make my expected mullet count, but we came close!

 There were no shortage of long-haired dudes.

 And the camoflauge?? Oh my.

 I was prepared for jean jackets, but not the excessive misuse of overalls.

 This lady had a supremely fantastical mullet. She had been working on that one for a while. Too bad the pictures are blurry.

 Shawna's find for a mullet. Along with her hott husband of course wearing this season's best.

This poor guy just didn't know what he was going for.

 Don't you ever think for a moment that we will make fun of these poor souls without cracking a few jokes about ourselves! Shawna REALLY  wanted this ensemble, but I reminded her that there were more options somewhere. Anything to get her out of buying this one.

Now it's my turn! Yes, that cup does say "Dolly for President."

Ruby Falls

For our third and final adventure of the day, we checked out Ruby Falls. I guess way back in the day a 7 year old boy was playing in a field. He found a hole in the ground and decided to follow it. He crawled through the cave for quite a while until he came upon a waterfall underground. The little boy ran quickly back to his family to tell them all about it... but no one believed the little boy with the vivid imagination. By the time he finally convinced someone to follow him back so he could show them it had rained quite a bit so the water level in the cave had risen so naturally they couldn't get down to the original spot. Of course, being that this wasn't the first time the little boy had made up such a grand story, still no one believed him. It wasn't until 70 or so years later when another person saw what the little boy had so long ago. The guy who found it the second time named the beautiful 114 foot underground waterfall after his beautiful wife, Ruby. He then found the story of the 'little boy who cried waterfall,' tracked down the (now) old man and dedicated it to him. 

 On our way down. We had quite the tour guide who was cracking himself up the whole way. He was more entertaining than the surroundings.

 See it?! This reminds me so much of when I was a kid and we took one of my favorite family vacations to Carlsbad Caverns. I don't know why I remember it so vividly, but there is a baby elephant's rear end almost exactly like this there. Still to this day I believe that trip is why I am so infatuated with caves.

 Just attempting to capture the chandelier roof. It's really hard to photograph anything in a cave.

 Probably the only shot salvagable from this day.

 Here ya go, Kenan... it's BACON!!

 Ruby Falls. You could walk all the way around the falls so when you got behind it you could look straight up. When you did, the light shining up made the water droplets look like something out of a fantasy-like dream. One of the simplest, most beautiful things I've ever seen. Too bad the lights were on a timer and we had to hurry the hell up before we were left down there in the dark. I could'a stared at that for a while longer.

 The people standing there help give it a little perspective. Considering I had to have like a 3 second exposure, all the colors turned to fushia. In real life the light changed colors from red to blue to yellow to purple.

 StalagTIGHTS because they hold real tight to the ceiling. StalagMIGHTS because they just might reach all the way to the top. (Remembered that from Carlsbad)

 Shawna.... I know it's a long trip, but jeez...

Lover's Leap

During our trip to Chattanooga, we wanted to fit in as much as we could so as to not waste any time. Unfortunately we tried to pack a little too much in so we never got to go on our hike we wanted. We got a little in here at Rock City. I'm pretty sure it is still in Tennessee, but it is RIGHT on the Georgia border so who knows. I guess the guy who found it said its massive rock formations were so intricate it was practically a city. That's how you get the name. Reminds me a lot of Hill City, SD (the town of Rock City anyways). Fairly touristy, lots of ma and pa shops, and only one gas station/liquor store for miles.

 The entryway.

 This one is called the Needle's eye.

 Pretty tight squeeze, even for a midget like me!

 Uh-oh... another suspension bridge! Shawna kept it together pretty well for this one because it was short.

 Can't go anywhere without a few self portraits.

The famous "Lover's Leap." The story goes that a boy and a girl from opposing Native American tribes fell in love. They knew they couldn't be together, but that didn't stop them. When the girl's dad (the leader of the clan) found out, he subsequently tossed the boy from the top of the rock to plummet to his death. The girl, who looked on in mourning, couldn't bear the thought of living without her true love, so she too leapt to her untimely death from the rock.

Sounds a little Romeo & Juliet eh? Wonder if any of it is true.

 From Lover's Leap you are supposed to be able to see 7 states on a clear day. Where my foot is represents where we are standing on the edge of the cliff. Sorry for the wanna-be Karate Kid pose. Don't know what goes through my head sometimes.

 Well it IS Lover's Leap after all...  

I kid.

 Daffodil's grow wild here! Along the interstate and all... they're everywhere!

 Lover's Leap from a side view. They didn't talk much about the waterfall so I don't know any stories behind that. I would never make a good tour guide, I know.

 'Whatcha doin?'  "Oh ya know, just sitting around holding up a 2 ton rock. Like I do."

So buff.