nothing says spring break like buffalo, mo...nothing! (seriously)

picture men in colorful garb with feathers in their helmets and flags hanging from their trumpets with the CREST OF JULIE on them, dut-dut-dut- DUUUUUUU! yes, as a matter of fact, it is spring break. it came early for us this year. and i decided to come to spring break USA....buffalo, mo. creature of habit.

everyone knows the truth of the matter...i just don't want to pay range fees. more about that at the end of this post.

but in all fairness, i do love seeing mom and dad and the dogs enjoy the change of scenery. they always travel like champions! (not champions like rocky balboa making weird grunting noises and yelling, "adrian!") 

so we took our time getting it together, and made it to buffalo around 7pm-and i was tuckered out. all i could think about all the way up here was hurts donuts in springfield. yes, i know...pathetic. i didn't stop, but i certainly thought about it! one of my friends lives in sgf, and i was hoping to meet her there for a donut and a cold one (milk), i rarely drink milk-if i need to induce vomit due to poisoning, or if i am having gourmet donuts...so this is truly a special occasion...or will be. if sabrina gets back in time, hopefully we can catch up-if not, i do not fear going stag-welcome to my world! but by jove, there will be a hurts donut to blame for any additional pound-age i may gain.

so, yesterday was sunday-church. i do enjoy my parents' church. it's a comfortable size. i especially enjoyed the message yesterday, because that is sometimes the way i feel lately. spoiler alert: pastor spoke on Jesus. the heart of Jesus. who Jesus was drawn to  and where he would likely be...hint: not in this church, or probably any other church in the city. he was drawn to those who were outcasts, the untouchables of the city. he could be found among the down-and-out. in my world, who would that be? if the essence of being a christian is to have the heart of Christ, are we missing the mark? do i find myself in the places he would be encouraging and caring for the unloving, those we wouldn't consider befriending? heart-check.

we'd gotten there early, so i had a chance to snap a picture of the cross. there used to be a giant glittery cross, but they decided to switch it out. dad worked up some designs, and this is what he loves to do. there are two smaller ones on either side. #proud

 and we were the last ones out of the building (i don't know if it's because of the saying and they just don't want to be least...), so we went out for mexican with the pastor and his wife. it was good conversation, although maybe we were there on an off-day. my fajita wasn't all i had hoped for. it didn't rank up there with my top 10, and it was about 2,000 miles behind el patio in tegucigalpa (is it even still there? oh to have un anafre!)

i was able to get some letter-writing done, which was on my to-do list...i brought all of my writing supplies...you laugh. i seriously chose a selection of cards, and stationery. markers, pens, 3-d glasses, my addresses, writing log, stamps.... all true. this is part of why it takes me so long to pack-trying to ensure that i have everything i need!

and when i looked out, at one point there were like 12 cardinals outside around the bird feeder! whenever i got close enough to get a pic, they'd fly off! jerks. but the birds are everywhere! one more thing to love about this area!

here you can see four red ones and one brown female. 

this morning after breakfast we went into town for some items, stopped at the post office and i mailed a package i've been meaning to send off for about the past 8 months...finally! and i purchased a new roll of stamps because i was getting low. and as it goes, i get a little anxiety going on when my stamps start to get low. i was even calculating in my head how much it would cost to get 10 rolls, 1,000 stamps...500 bucks! (but a thousand stamps...it would last me about 3-4 years. no worries, i only got one roll. BUT, if i win the lottery, i WILL purchase those stamps!!) but for now.

then we went to a little amish community to check out their wares. we stopped into dad's favorite shop-a furniture store. he loves the wood-working! and they did have some rustic furniture. although most of it looked very much like the next piece. sorry, but the lewis and clark collection was rather reminiscent of the alaskan collection...personally, i was taken in by the flooring. they sell this plank wood flooring that is gorgeous! there was nobody in the shop-not a cashier, no one. not that we were purchasing anything, but still that was a little strange.

we went from there, next door to the food shop and i made some purchases.  dad was going around on his own, as he was not interested in spices and flour. he found the deals: 5 butterfingers bars for $1! and 10 kool-aid packets for $1.00! he's the deal-master. when i got to the register, lady was not overly friendly-reminded me a little of the amish in the murder she wrote series-(so suspicious of outsiders). anyhoo, as she scanned the aleve, she said they were 'buy one get one free'! that's a pretty good deal!

they had all sorts of spices! and dried mango..maple syrup and so much more!

when we got home i took advantage of the beautiful day and yes, went out back to shoot. dad is always updating things, so he fixed up the target board and the slugs were dropping near the target, so i picked a few up; the .22s look so small compared to the 9mm. i've been thinking i'd like a 45...but then, i'm also thinking i'd like a motorcycle...

going to town for more ammo tomorrow.

my dad usually goes out to watch when i shoot, and this time when i finished, he was missing one of his hearing aids (those suckers aren't cheap at $2,000 a piece), so needless to say, we were on our hands and knees crawling around trying to find this little thing that was camouflaged in the leaves somewhere! after about ten minutes, i finally spied it-fortunately it hadn't been stepped on! (dodged a bullet!)

i'll be dropping mom and dad off at the airport on wednesday for their flight to fl, where they will enjoy epcot or disney world and then go on a cruise to the bahamas. i really hope they enjoy it! they deserve a fun vacation!

alright, i'm off to enjoy spring break; will likely write again after hurts!
julie