An Aint Aud tale

Heres a lil story about Aint Aud. When I lived in Ca.Aint Aud came out on some business trip of sorts,and I was to pick her up and take her to her plant in ( I think) City of Industry,Ca. Anyway I ran my pick-up truck thru the car wash and I picked her up in it and she had an incredulous look on her face as I drove up to get her.She asked where my car was and I said I left it at home.By the time we arrived at her plant she was just finishing up explaining to me that under NO circumstance(sp?) was I EVER to pick her up again in a truck ! (boy I sure did love that ole truck too)Well we parked and as we were walking in we both noticed her plant manager (Oriental I think)leaning back with his hands folded behind his head and his feet on the desk and he glanced at us then turned away,and instantly jerked his head back to us and recognized her ,and he got outta that chair in a speed that you could only admire and ran over to us and said;Ms Hoey,we werent expecting to see you here today.She said ,apparently not.Any way he gave me/us the grand tour and she spoke with him in his office a few minutes and we left.Let me say that I never did pick her up again in my truck,altho I really DID enjoy driving that ole thing and just cant understand why anyone wouldnt want a ride in it.:)

To all of you turning 40 this year -hears something to think about:
>>> Did you ever notice: The Roman Numerals for forty (40) are " XL."

Reunion Plan Update

Well folks, July 4th is getting closer so it's time to get down to the nitty gritty and we really need a head count for those who are planning to be here so that we can make arrangements for food, accommodations, meeting venues and so we can organize the mystery dinner game.

Here is a list of the people I have so far and where they are staying--if you are coming and don't have a place to stay yet please let me know and I'll help you any way I can. If you aren't on the list below, but plan to come, please drop me a line. I want to see everyone so badly...I wish I had a private jet to pick everyone up, and a mansion where we could all stay in one place! Oh well, maybe next reunion.

Local Folks:
-Sandi, Jack, Lori, Sophie, Olivia
-Jim, Charlotte, Asa
-Jodi, Brent, Brennah, Kelsea
-Aunt Earnie
-Aunt Aud and Uncle Bob
-Cathi and Louis
-Mandi, Mike, Seth, Night

Family staying at the Holiday Inn:
-Debbey and Cloud
-Cory, Lisa and Dylan
-Vicki and Dennis
-Orrin

Folks planning on staying with local family members:
-Evona (staying with Jodi)
-Aunt Shirley and Donna (staying with Aunt Aud)
-Gail Shailee (staying with her son)
-Sarah (staying with Sandi)
-*Corey, schedule permitting (staying with Cathi)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KELSEA!

Hi everyone! April 27th is Kelsea's birthday (Jodi's youngest dgtr). so "Happy Birthday Kelsea!" Jodi: I'll be at your house tomorrow to sing her my special birthday song! I'm sure she can't wait! So many April birthdays. Hope we didn't miss anyone. If so, happy Birthday! I'll let everyone know when it's MY turn...I always do. Even sweeter this year, cuz I can remind MANY more family members! I don't know about you guys, but I love MY birthday. Mostly because my family makes it important whether I want them to or not!

Hope you are all enjoying this beautiful weekend! I want to work in the yard soooo bad, but just haven't got around tuit. I thought I'd wait til Sarah gets here to clean house and do yard work....you are coming early, right Sarah? LOL!

I don't know about up north, but we had beautiful weather here today. I was crazy enough to do my WalMart shopping today..(Debbey teaches to NEVER shop on the weekend), but I did, and it was so amazing. I don't know if it was the weather or what, but I ran into so many nice people. Even the gal at the checkout told me my meat and strawberries were on special at another store and just rang them up at the sale price instead of making me show her sale papers! (doesn't take much to make me happy these days!)

Our days are so full of softball games and grandkid things that sometimes I start to feel my age. I'm even beginning to dream about retirement and that just seems weird. Time seems to go so fast....and that is exactly why all yaw need to try your best to be here in July! We may never get this chance again, and it would be so wonderful just to see and get to know everyone just a little more! See your kids, grandkids, heck, bring your neighbors if you want too! We have several friends that Mom feeds regularly that think they ARE family, and that's just okay to all of us!

Some of you that are pretending to be too busy to make a post need to get off your butts and chime in! Show that ol smart a*# Ladd spirit! Hope you are are having a wonderful weekend!
Love to all, Sandi

A note from Vicki

So I haven't been around for awhile, sorry. We bought a house and gutted the kitchen - everything was great until the countertop people kept screwing up - we went with concrete countertops that look really cool - except the apoxy that went on the top kept bubbling and they had to re-do them 3 times -- we've been without a kitchen for 4 weeks now and living in the house. It's finished now and we should have a kitchen sink this weekend (yeah!).

Then of course during all of this work has been crazy - I took a group of my members to D.C. to a congressional conference of Optometrists and everything there went great until we walked out of the restaurant and I got really sick and puked, yes I said PUKED, right on the sidewalk in front of about 6 of my members and their wives. And... I had to see them all the very next week at our convention - hooray. it was announced at the board meeting about throwing up, although there was no table top dancing as was also announced (believe it or not, I only had one glass of wine with dinner that night!)

So, now that convention is over, and we will have a kitchen soon, hopefully I can check in more. Hope this finds you all with stories of your own to tell and much sympathy for me and my embarrassment - oh, and Dennis would want me to tell you that I just didn't get sick, but it was everywhere and I had to use my suit jacket to clean myself up, out of my hair, off my face, etc.

PS - Jodi came to take pics at my convention -- ask her about her room!

If this works

I'll be a certified nut.

Should We hide the....

Hey Gabby! Should we hide all the the baby chicks in the city before you get here? Just wondering. .....gotta make this short, my leg is hurting again. Yep, been bothering me for years now--but I don't like to talk about it much--brings back all the trauma ya know ?

Welcome Gabby

Hey Gabby, welcome to the blog...so good to hear from you! I apologize to everyone else for not writing, I've gotten a bit behind on my responsibilities, but I'm working hard to catch up.

WHOOOAAA IS ME

nearly 1 am and no one is on line! doesn't anyone stay up all night anymore? humph! I may as well go to bed. :)

Hope everyone is doing good. Anyone got Gabbys email? Let's get him an invite and see if he is still as smart as he used to think he was! .....if you have it, send it to Jodi so she can send him an invite to join the blog, cuz I don't know how to do it. I leave the technical stuff to Jodi and Dylan!

Have a great day! ....hope I can get up when the alarm goes off. Jack swears it wakes the neighbors and can't believe I can sleep right thru it! I bet I hit the snooze at least 5 times before I ever wake up. I also close my eyes and set the time AHEAD. That way I have to get up to find out what time it REALLY is! Jack also doesn't understand that! I like it. That way I'm always surprised when I get up and walk to the kitchen to look at the clock. It's a good way to start the day! Honest. (just a little info to help you start your day!) ....and you shut up Jimmie! It is to a good idea!!!!

Happy Birthday Aunt Earnie & Vicki

Happy Birthday to yaw... I was early this time, hope yaw saw that

It sounds as if I missed out on some more great times. I will put a stop to that in July! It's way cool to learn that Evona is gonna (maybe?) make it. whohoooooooooooooooo

It's great to hear you are up and fiesty Jack! WTG! and thank you Lord.

I am really looking forward to a new round of stories.....

back to work for me

Orrin

Earnie's Birthday Party at Jodi's!

We just got home from Jodi's house where we had Mom's (Aunt Earnie's) Birthday Party with 30 or more family members. We really had a good time, and everyone showed up. Queen Aint Aud was gracious enough to "loan" her crown to Mom, so I guess that made her the new Queen for the Day. I'm sure Jodi will be posting the new Queens' pic soon. I have a feeling that the crown may end up an heirloom to be passed on to anyone having their 75th birthday! But that would be cool! Want to know who all was there? I'll try and (and hope I don't forget anyone). Of course Mom, her brother Lewis & his wife Mary from Kentucky, Debbey, Cloud, Vicki, Dennis, Mandi, Seth, Jodi, Brent, Brennah & Kelsea, Jimmie, Charlotte, Asa, Aint Aud, Bob, Cathi, Lewis, Sissy, Ransom, Derek, Lori, Ted, Sophie, Olivia, Faith....and (?) . Cloud and Asa helped the kids fly kites, and as far as we know, Cloud didn't have any accidents. The kids did wonder why a grown up kept a kite in the back of his truck "just in case"! Good food, (Jodi made the best cakes ever), good people and lots of good conversation including politics and religion! Wish all yaw could have been here! Love, Sandi

Jack is doing great!

Thanks for all your prayers. Jack needs them because he doesn't have a lot of sense when it comes to health issues. Oddly enough, Jack's brother, that happens to look very much like him, had a heart attack, and they were both scheduled for surgery at the same time, in the same hospital, with the same surgical group! To make matters worse, they were both "J" Griffin (Jacky and Johnny). But the hospital was on top of it, and taking extra precaution. They were put in rooms directly across from each other, and after laying flat for 6 hours they both wandered to the hall way wearing their hospital gowns, and dragging those IV poles! They were caught at the nurses’ station, but whined their way into going down to the cafeteria. Course they had to pull one trick on the nurses. Before they got their meds, they had to state their name and birthday twice. One nurse came to his brothers room, gave him his meds, and THEN asked him his name and birth date ,so his brother gave him his real name but Jack's birthday.....she looked like she was going to cry because she couldn't figure out if the chart was wrong, or if she just gave meds to the wrong Griffin! She got that look of fire when he told her he was just kidding! Any way, so far so good. In fact, the surgery was Tuesday, and Jack coached Sophie and Olivia's ball team on Friday. I did have to get on to him for "running", and reminded him if his "plugs" popped out, he could bleed out in less than 5 minutes. His reply? "Oh, you just worry too much". .....so yeah, we NEED prayer for this knuckle head! But he and his brother are both doing great! Love, Sandi

HAPPY BIRTHDAY VICKI!!!!

Vicki...I thought this day would never come. It's the birthday that I finally get to start telling people that you are older than me! It's been a long time coming.

I love ya and hope your day is relaxing and wonderful!

TGIF again

Another week, in the books. I hope that it has been a good one for you all.
Jack, I hope that you are getting stronger, and feeling better.
And, so I wont be late, Happy Birthday to yaw that have one coming up!

This is my favorite time of year! I refer to it as an explosion of life. It is perhaps more dramatic this far north than it is down there? Perhaps not. My family will spend a lot of time in the woods beginning in late April. We will head further north seeking morel mushrooms in the state forests. We will see eagles, elk, all sorts of baby deer, elk, partridge ... you name it! The trees and flowers will soon unfurl a new season of foiliage and birds and frogs sing all day long.... well the frogs go on way past sunset.

I have begun start up on my water garden, did the top half last Sunday and look forward to wrapping up the bottom half this weekend. I miss the sound of the water falls. With the water warming up, the fish are moving again. They barely move all winter long.

And its about time to do some fishing up north too!

Oops, I have to finish rebuilding the 2 hay wagons first..... and fix a leak in the pole barn roof. Lost some shingles in a storm, dont ya know.

Anyway, I'll be plenty busy, but it prolly wont keep me from checking in. I hope yaw do the same, drop short notes when you can, cuz I know you will be busy as well. ... And I will be thinking of yaw and looking forwared to July! Hot Dawg dont cha know?


Love,
Orrin

What up, Ladd clan???

I'm sorry it's been soooo long between posts! I'm so behind on phone calls & emails as well. I guess what I'm saying is....I'm kind of a stiff! : ) I'll get better....I promise!

Happy birthday Debbey! Vicki & Kelsey are coming up too! If I missed someone, please see above....

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEBBEY!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEBBEY!!!!!!!!
Wishing you all the best things in life...with shoes to match!
I love ya Seester!

Who Dunnit Mystery Dinner

Okay...this is just in discussion stage but Jodi and I talked about a couple of the packages for this shindig, and Orrin found a website that told about some, but Jodi zero'd in on one that is set in the 1920's (Jodi, hope I'm telling this right). Any way, it involves a mafia type setting in a speak easy, and we thought the old Ladd's Cafe would be perfect for that set up. If we wanted to dress for the occasion, it wouldn't be that difficult...and we DO want to dress, right? But it would be easy for the gals to grab some long strands of pearls, garters belts (ha! ...just suggesting), kind of the roaring 20's thing, cigarette holders, you know the type....and the mafia guys could wear the hats...I know what they are called but don't know how to spell it, maybe a fake mustoche...(I think my brother Jimmie already has one of those), and things like that. Can I get some feed back on the idea? Jodi thought we could have pizza, spaghetti, (Italian type food), and it would be easy to get...keep warm, and serve, etc. What do you all think? If you have a better idia, post it. Thanks! Sandi

PHOTO BUCKET

I love our photo bucket! Please keep posting new pics! I always check it to find the latest. Dylan, will you be able to use these in your slide show even if they weren't sent to your mail box? I hope so! If it can be done, I know you can do it.
Love, Sandi

Happy Friday to all

Happy first Friday of April 2008. Its spring, its Friday and I am outta here!

dang, that sounds impressive,,,, but I am only heading out early for doctor appt.

nonetheless... I hope yaw have a wonderful weekend.


toodle loooo

O

Happy 40th Cory!

HAPPY 4--Ohhh CORY!!!

It was nice while it lasted

Well, this sucks!

Yesterday, I put in for time off at work, for the reunion and the Owner told me that four of the guys had already been approved for vacation for the 4th of July weekend, so I cannot get the time off to come to Arkasas.

Then my car broke dead died went kaputt, and I cant get the parts in time to get it fixed by July anyway, if I could get the time off... one of them catastrophic converters went out on it. Or something like that.

And I stubbed my toe and tore the nail off it, so I cant walk anyway

and northwest airlines might be on strike

and chicken little said the sky was falling

so, I am just SOL

heavy sigh

what's today anyway?