My New Friend Leroy

Wednesday, June 29, 2011

My New Friend, Leroy

Thanks to everyone who responded to my Blog and Facebook posts yesterday.  I always worry about bombarding people with the craziness of our travels in their email inbox and can imagine them saying, "Dang it, another email from that Murphy's Mom chick......hasn't she tortured that husband of hers & US enough??"  

BTW, my friend Leroy above has absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with this Blog.....I just thought he was cute......

On The Road Again......

Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Mornin' Blogger Friends!!

Well, it's heatin' up outside....yesterday 102.....which means just one thing:  time to head to cooler territory!

Chuck, Murphy, Kruger-The-One-Claw Cat and I will be loading up the RV and heading north on another adventure in a few days following the weather man in search for cooler weather.

What started out a few years ago as a "Travel Journal" for my Mom so she'd know where we were while we traveled across the country, has turned into quite a large Blog following.

We'd love to take you along with us as we journal our day to day adventures, but wanted to give everyone a chance to "opt out" of receiving Murphy's Mom Blog during this time.  We know some of you have enough adventures of your own without needing to hear about ours, so we won't be offended in any way if you request to be removed from the Blog list......Simply "Reply" to this email...

But if you're as anxious to head out on the open road as we are and see what crazy things happen to us this year, we are excited to be taking you with us as we roll on down the road singing:

"On The Road Again

Just Can't Wait To Get On the Road Again

Goin' Places That I've Never Been 

Seein' Things That I May Never See Again....

Like A Band of Gypsies We Go Down the Highway

We're The Best of Friends

Insisting That The World Keep Turning Our Way"

Get ready........it's always a bumpy ride when Chuck and Liz are on the road.......

A Perfect Day.......

Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Hey, did you know that in 1982 on this date, Prince Chuck and Lady Di took sweet little Prince William home from the hospital?

I thought that would interest you more than hearing that at 3:30 am on this date in 1960, a rolly polly Liz Calloway-Etheridge came screaming wildly into this world.  Yep, today's my birthday....the BIG 51......and I can't tell you how neat it was getting zillions of texts today from Facebook friends wishing me a happy day!!  Thank you to everyone who took time out of their day to send me such kind wishes.....and it was a happy birthday indeed!!

Liz in new BD Apron with Mary and Sandra

My birthday actually started yesterday when I spent the afternoon with Mom at her Assisted Living Center in Dallas and she gave me my birthday gift.  It was a lovely and adorable apron.......I LOVE it....so much so, that I wore it the rest of the day; plus all 2 hours of the trip home, plus the rest of the evening until time to go to bed!!  Chuck thought it made me look HOT!  And I wanted to let Mom know that I successfully picked up her subtle hint that I need to learn how to cook.

Church Bible Study Group: Becky, Jacque, Pete & Di An

Today, my actual birthday, was full of activities such as lunch with my Bible Study Group at a corner gas station; discusssing survival techniques in case the world comes to an end with my sweet Ant Ellie and dinner with our sweet neighbors, Troy and Becky at a restaurant that didn't sell diesel.  What could make this day any better??

Wellllllll.......what made this day "perfect" was we tried out Chuck's new electric wheelchair lift that attaches to the back of my car.  We hadn't really "tested" it out until today and I'm happy to report, it works even better than I could have imagined!  Chuck fits perfectly back there and I couldn't even hear him scream when I hit the speed bump at the front gate.  Since we bought it on Craig's List, there were no directions, so we weren't sure whether he should be lying flat or sitting up, so we tried it both ways.  See??

 Perfect day!!!!

Just call me Hannakunkalulu

Friday, June 10, 2011


Well folks, what an exciting night it was tonight!

Yours truly was asked to surprise a group of Birthday Club folks here in Mt. Vernon by teaching them how to Hula Dance........Do I know how to Hula Dance you ask??  NOPE........I am a YouTube self-taught student of the Hula Dance.   I've been hula'ing in front of my computer all week with Iwalani Kiana to the tune of "Little Brown Gal" and, unfortunately, it was a pretty ugly scene in my home office.

I wore my grass skirt, strung my lei's around my neck, wrist and head, and proceeded to frolick, prance, leap, cavort and dart about.....everything BUT Hula Dance in front of this Birthday Club.  Yep, it was quite a show.......I'm so grateful everyone was laughing so hard that they forgot to video it with their cell phones.

As I dragged the five birthday folk up to the front to embarrass them (oh ya, and teach them some Hula moves too!), all was going well until we got to the second verse of Little Brown Gal.......the CD started skipping.....like alot.....ALOT.....like the singer was singing really really fast.....

As I watched my five birthday volunteers trying to do their moves to the beat of the rapidly playing CD, I couldn't help but think this just couldn't have gone any better.......It was truly one of those funny moments we all won't soon forget.

So, to sum this evening up........this is what I hoped we would look like tonight......

This is what we actually looked like.......






(sorry Hal, you accidently didn't get in the picture).......

My Suspender Story.......

Thursday, June 9, 2011


I was SO excited the other day when I visited a Tuesday Morning store in Dallas and saw a rack of suspenders.

Now, my Charlie has no butt, and for this reason, he is known for his suspenders.....he wears them with everything....jeans, shorts, dress pants.....why, he's even been known to wear them with overalls.....I must say, that last one was not a proud moment, folks.

So you can only imagine how happy and excited I was when there was a whole rack of them hanging there  at Tuesday Morning!  So many styles to choose from, the price was incredibly low, and I was thinking of the brownie-points I would be earning as I walked in the door with these!

That is, until I turned the tag over to see the size and learn it's a 6 footer.......a 6 footer DOG LEASH.

And look what I saw while pumping gas yesterday........I chased these puppies all around the parking lot to get this picture!!

And last but not least......Murphy has learned a brand smackin' new trick......yep, the boy can now BEG!  He had a little trouble finding that "pivot" point on his rear-end, but once he learned that if he sticks his tongue out, his butt balances better, it worked for him every time!!