Sunday

Why do I have dogs again? Somebody remind me quick! It was my day off (I worked Saturday for a friend who had a wedding to attend), and I wanted to sleep in just a little. I'm not a late sleeper, really. For me, sleeping in means 8ish. I get up at 6:30 on work days, so 8 seems luxuriously late. But it just wasn't happening, not with my dogs. Shep started barking at 6:15, using his "hey woman I wanna go outside" voice. He was persistent and growing increasingly loud. So, I stumbled out of bed to let him and Scooter out. Not a big deal, since I stumbled right back into bed and was headed right back into blissful slumber. And then....just moments before I was fully asleep, Scarlet started barking. She was sleeping when I let Shep out, and never even looked in my direction. But now....she wanted out. So I got out of bed, again.....and when I opened the door to let HER out, Shep and Scooter pushed their way back inside, all excited and energetic, leaping and barking like crazy dogs. There was no mercy for me. I finally gave up and made doggy breakfast, because that's really all I COULD do and retain my sanity. For the record, hubby was sleeping through all of this. Soundly. Like even snoring lightly, so I couldn't even accuse him of faking being asleep.

Anyway, Bruce's brother Doug and niece Emily came up and we had lunch with them. Emily just signed with Duke University (she is 16...I think....a junior in high school), so they had been in Durham for a couple of days. Doug wanted to come up and see Aunt Grace. We didn't get to see them for very long. They had a long drive back to Atlanta (8 hours....blech), so there wasn't time to linger. We went to Parker's for those of you who are familiar with this area. Its a barbeque place that is locally "famous" for its eastern NC barbecue. Bruce and I rarely (never) go there by ourselves, but its the most requested place to eat when we have out of town guests so we get our fill of it then....haha. Its not that we don't like it. But when it comes down to a choice of barbecue, we prefer the sweeter, red sauced barbecue that you can get in the western part of the state to the more vinegary barbecue here in the east. Still, they have awesome corn sticks (fried corn bread, a true southern delicacy) and the best coleslaw. So I never mind going there. Doug was a little nostalgic, since he hasn't eaten there in years...a LOT of years. He said it hadn't changed at all.

So, I have today off to make up for working Saturday. We are going to spend it painting the front porch. The weather is perfect for it. Anybody who wants to run by and give us a hand.....we'll be right here and we might even take you to Parker's for lunch.....haha.