Saturday, September 27, 2014

Calista In My Life

A couple of months ago, I was telling my husband that one of the local museums was having an AG tea party and inviting people to bring their dolls for tea.  I told him that I almost considered going, until I saw that the admittance was $25.  I could buy another doll with that, I'm not paying that for a silly event.  My husband told me that I could've taken Calista and Bob to the event.  I said "Bob is gone for the summer, remember?"  My husband cracked up laughing and said "I like it that you're so consistent."

On Tuesday, we were in the car and my husband said out of the blue "Well, it's the first day of Fall, do you know what that means?"  I thought about it for a few seconds and didn't know what he could be referring to, so I said "No, what does that mean?"  He said "It means Bob is back!"  I cracked up and said "Yeah, Bob is back."

Well, Bob may be back, but Calista is not there.  Calista is currently spending as much time as she can on Biloxi Beach.

Wednesday, she spent the day in New Orleans.

I will let Calista describe her trip when she's ready to post her next diary entry.  I just wanted to tell you the story about my husband, and also to show you these cool beads that we got while in New Orleans.  I saw the ones below and I immediately thought that the instruments attached would make pretty decent instruments for some of my dolls.

When I saw the beads below, I initially thought that the footballs would be way too big for 1/6 scale dolls.  I was going to give these to someone as a souvenir.  But when I posed Calista with these, well I think she looks adorable holding that football and I'm afraid that I'm going to have to keep these for myself, also.

I just have to take a moment to express my appreciation for my husband.  Not only does he listen to me talk about dolls, he actually keeps up with the storylines that I write, and he encourages me to keep doing what I want to do.  And as if that weren't enough, he has no complaints about me bringing a doll along with me every time we take a trip.  He smiles as we walk along streets, eat at restaurants, spend time on the beach, etc. all while having a doll along and snapping photos.  He did protest a little bit about me bringing my laptop on our trip.  He knew that I'd be working and blogging while on vacation. :)

20 comments:

  1. Boy has Calista forgotten all about Bog? First the keyboard lessons...now she is traveling!

    You husband is a real sweetie. I am not sure who is luckiest him or you! ;-)

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    1. Hi The grandmommy! Calista has not forgotten about Bob, but she did manage to enjoy her summer without him.

      Thanks for your comment about my husband. I read him some of these comments and we were laughing because we were both thinking about when he lost his patience with me in the French Quarter in New Orleans (he was hungry and we were looking for someplace to eat, but I kept stopping and taking photos). He said "Everyone has their limits!" So true. Lesson learned for me: never let the dolls come between my man and his meals. :)

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  2. You have woderful husband:) I really like this necklaces. Those instruments look very nice.

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    1. Thank you Natalia Tadra! It's a shame that I'll have to destroy the necklace to retrieve the instruments. I'll leave the football necklace intact for a while until I have a need for one of the footballs.

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  3. Cute post! Love your husbands attitude. That is the way it should be!

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    1. Thank you, Phyllis! We do try to keep each other encouraged.

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  4. It's adorable and wonderful that your husband is so very supportive. You've got a keeper!

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  5. That's so cool that your husband is so supportive of your passion. It always helps when a SO supports and even remembers the small details about the dolls. His attitude definitely merits several brownie points.

    dbg

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    1. Thanks Debbie! He did earn a lot of brownie points, but he had to cash most of them in for his part in turning our 12 hour drive home into an 18 hour ordeal!

      He told me that on the drive home, he wanted to go through Texas. I told him that I wanted to stick with the route that he knows. He assured me that he knew the way through Texas, and that the drive would still be about 12 hours. I hesitantly went along with this plan.

      So I enjoyed riding along the Gulf Coast and taking in all of the beautiful scenery, enjoyed seeing parts of Louisiana that I'd never seen before, Texas was beautiful as ever. But here's where things began to go wrong: after already being in the car for 6 hours, I noticed that we were very close to Houston, and I know that it's a 9 hour drive from Houston to Tulsa. I mentioned this to my husband, and he changed his course heading north. Fast forward a few hours and we are now close to Dallas, and I know that it takes 4 hours to drive from Dallas to Tulsa. He said that we would go through Dallas and home from there, and I agreed with that plan. After studying some maps and an app on his phone, he decided that since we were currently northeast of Dallas, we would take a certain unknown highway home. I went along with this plan.

      Fast forward a few more hours and misery has set in, as we're driving along a 2-lane "highway" in pitch black darkness, no moon or starlight even, only the occasional blinding bright headlights of a car coming from the opposite directions. We're in the thick woods with the trees nearly forming a canopy overhead, twisting and turning in all directions.

      My mom-in-law kept calling, and I didn't want my husband talking on the phone while driving, and I was not about to drive. I calmly told her that he could not talk, and I described our situation. My MIL - who had earlier found my husband's miscalculation to be hilarious - said "OH LAWD JESUS! Father God cover these children and PROTECT THEM!" She had more prayers, and pleaded with me to find a hotel and stay the night there. I told her that we would discuss it and that we would call her once we reached the Interstate Highway that would take us home.

      We did eventually pass a rundown L-shaped motel at the edge of the woods and I told my husband that I've watched too many horror movies in my life to EVER stay at a place like that. He didn't need convincing - he was determined to get us home. Later, as we were twisting and turning through the pitch black woods and as my bladder served as a constant reminder that I'm not in my 20's or 30's anymore, my husband told me that during drives like this, we should remain in prayer. So around that time the profanity began to spout forth from my mouth. It wasn't directed towards him, it was more descriptive of our situation and surroundings. Knowing that my husband was scared nearly sent me into a panic, but he spoke to me calmly and told me that he needed for me to remain calm, so I did my best.

      After we were out of the woods (literally and figuratively), but before reaching the interstate, my husband was stopped for speeding. He immediately unbuckled his seat belt and started reaching for his wallet. I told him to stop, don't reach for anything, don't do anything until the officer tells him to, and to keep his hands where they could be seen. He asked me if he could at least roll down the window, and I said okay to that. :) The officer was friendly and helpful, let us off with a warning, and gave us great directions to the interstate, which wasn't far.

      Once on the interstate, my husband and I were able to see the humor in the situation and laugh about it, and we also looked for lessons that we could take away from this situation. We enjoyed the rest of our drive home, even though we were both pretty exhausted by then.

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  6. Those musical instruments on the beads are a FIND.

    I applaud your husband's keeping up with your plot lines... his sense of direction, not so much. The highway story is... a lot more fun as a story than as something actually lived through! Frightening and frustrating, and obvs, I'm glad it turned out all right.

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    1. Thank you Smaller Places! I was pretty excited when I saw the beads with the instruments. I'll have to start putting a band together. :) Yeah, the last half of the ride home was NO FUN at all. My husband has expertly led us to and from Mississippi in the past, but I think he got a little over-confident with his navigational skills on the journey home. Next time (if there ever is one) we will use GPS from the beginning.

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  7. You and your husband are a perfect couple in my book. I mean you just mesh so well. Congratulations to you both.

    Yay, Calista stopped pinning over Bob's absence. I look forward to hearing about her travels and musical activities. Oh and to seeing Bob's return. Wonder if he has grown taller?

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    1. Thank you, D7ana! We have so much fun together. :) I'm glad that Calista was able to focus only on herself for a while and to find new things that she enjoys. I'm sure that she'll have lots of stories to tell.

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  8. You've got a GREAT guy. By the way thanks for visiting and the very helpful comments on my blog. Hope you enjoyed your adventure in the Lone Star State. I'm in Houston and can agree that road trips in the Southwest area can at times, be a hair raising experience! Love your storyline with Calista. I own one as well. Happy Trails ;)

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    1. Thank you Ollie's Dollies! I'll be looking forward to seeing more blog posts from you. :) Our Texas portion of the trip was fine (yet long), but darkness fell on us as we entered Arkansas. I looked at a map today and saw that we had driven through Ouachita National Forest on "highway" 59. People actually go there to get away from civilization. LOL! It's too bad that it was dark and we couldn't see anything, because the photos that I've seen online of the area are breathtakingly beautiful.

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  9. Kudos to your husband. It's always a joy when we have loved ones that support our doll craziness... I mean, hobby. The instruments and the footballs are perfect. Looking forward to seeing Calista's diary entry.

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    1. Thanks Vanessa! I really like the instruments. The football beads are still intact, for now.

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