Welcome to Nitty Gritty's camping blog!

This is my first post blogging about our camping adventures.  We have had our Pop-Up camper for 4 years now and I still don't feel like we are using it enough. Our oldest 2 boys are adult aged now and our daughter is 17. They are wanting to skip out of the adventures and stay home and "watch" the house. Yea, we know what they really hope to do. This year we have several weekend trips planned and a trip to Colorado, which I am looking so forward to!! 
The photograph above is the Arkansas White River, just below Bull Shoals Dam in the Bull Shoals/White River State Park. The park is very clean, we loved it! The only thing we didn't like was the camping folks from Texas right next to us that had apparently been there for days letting their sewer from their 5th wheel drain out on to the ground and spill over into our camp site. It was the worst stench for about the first 3 days of our week long stay. They were not intending on fixing the problem so we had to complain to the higher ups, by that time they were scheduled to leave the following day. But if that were the only problem, they also allowed their dog to relieve itself #2 in our site and when I tried to shoo it away it growled at me and acted as if it was about to attack. You can imagine how thankful we were when they finally pulled out at 1/4 till check out time, they made their stay last as long as they could. Once they had left it was an awesome trip, the rain helped wash away the odor and the river was awesome with the white fog, which is why it is called the White River. :D I have so many more pics to see from this trip! But for now I will sign off. Thank you for reading my first Nitty Gritty Camping blog. 

First Born Graduates High School!

  

Today has been a great day! My son's Graduation was at 10 AM, and that started my day off perfectly! I woke up at 6 AM put the coffee on for my husband, let my pom poms out and then I got ready to go. By the time I was finished totally figuring out what I was going to wear and what not, it was 7:30 AM. I woke my daughter up so she could take her hour to get ready and when I returned to the master bedroom my husband was awake, well barely. He was bumping into walls you would have thought he was a drunk man. I think he stayed up to late the night before. I didn't mind it brought on the first laughter of the morning. :D He was pleased I had coffee ready! What a good wifie poo! I even ironed my daughter's dress while she got ready. By a quarter till 9 my son lets me know he is actually supposed to be downtown OKC at 9 AM, lining up. We still had to drive 30 minutes out of our way to pick up his girlfriend. We are almost to the Cox Convention Center and my son says uh oh it almost 9:45 we walk in at that time. I am panicked by this time but keeping my cool. We drop my son off at the front of the place and we proceed to get parking all the while I am worrying if my son made it on time. We find our seats, and if it weren't for the brilliant mastermind who thought of the graduates taking a tour around the stadium I would have worried up till they called his name on stage. But I seen him in the line when they walked them all the way around the auditorium and was so relieved. He made it. What a wonderful feeling of overwhelming happiness knowing your first born, one and only son has finally made it through high school. He was so stubborn all the way through. But we finally made it to this point. Thank You!

Flower Pot Gardening

 

I went a little crazy at the garden center the past two days. It feels great to be able to enjoy the great outdoors. I love Spring!! My favorite season! I just stopped inside to take a little rest and get a drink but must go back out and finish another flower bed.

Fly Killer

 

First off, I have to thank Fred & his wife Rae for allowing us to check this battery operated bug killer out! I would still be trying my luck with the old plastic swatter had we not went and picked one of these up! The bug frying sound they make when the bodies pop off that electric wiring scares me every time I kill one. Seriously, I jump and scream and kill all at the same time...lol... but it is so much fun! And I don't know about you but I have already been seeing flies around and I don't like them!  You don't either? So, go get you one at Harbor Freight Tools before Easter Sunday.. YOU WILL LOVE IT!

Baby Girls First Prom

 What have I been up to since my last posting? First off, my daughter brought her first boyfriend home to be approved by Dad so that she can be aloud to hang out with him. Her father is very protective of her. She had already been invited to Prom and hadn't even brought him over for approval. It was a stressful day or two. But we made it through. He has been approved so far by her father as long as he stays on Dad's good side we wont have any problems. We went shopping for my daughter's first Prom dress and shoes this week. I wish I could say it was so much fun! But my daughter is so unsure of herself that it will wear on your nerves after a while, but I try to stay positive but when I find something she looks absolutely adorable in and it's on sale I can't resist my excitement! I think that's what threw her off. I wasn't panic stricken so she didn't want the dress till her friends text her with their approval. We left the store empty handed.

I was sick to my stomach she has 3 weeks to get a dress and there just isn't any knock down gorgeous dresses this late in the search. We tried second hand shops and almost every formal apparel store in the vicinity and nothing. I found a store online that she had looked in locally with the most fabulous dresses they were pricey but I was struck by the rose colored glass Prom bug and was going to do what I could to get this dress at $400, I know CRAZY!! It is her first Prom, even if it isn't her Prom. There was no way I was ordering online this late in the game so I sent an email requesting info on how I can get them to order the dress and let her try it on before we buy it. I received no reply. That summed up how I would feel about the customer service at Serendipity. We did not proceed with shopping with them. Instead my daughter received her text from her friends that she looked good in the dress that I thought she looked so beautiful in and  her friend told her she should get it.  It was the only one of two in that style left and the only one in her size she even considered. Plus it was marked down that morning from $300 to $99! I had expected to spend at least 2 - 300 for a dress, but never thought I would get shoes and a dress for less than $300! By this time we were already eating dinner at home. But as soon as we finished we hopped in the car and boogied down to the store and bought her shoes and the dress. She will look gorgeous and everyone is happy!

Today, my son and I went to order his cap and gown for high school graduation. We have been searching for class rings as well. I completely never thought about him wanting a class ring. I guess he didn't think about it till today.  I know I am going to cry like a baby at his graduation. This would be his Senior Prom that my daughter is attending. My son refuses to take his girlfriend to Prom. I keep telling him his girlfriend would love to go and he knows but just doesn't want to take her. I am saving money there I guess. Lol!