Walter thinks I am a good mom

A few days ago Walt called and we had a really long conversation.

Fade to black... Background info about his current girlfriend (Jodi, guessing at the spelling). She is 30 and has a 9 year old daughter. She works at a Chili's in Houston. One of the managers of the location where she works was killed a few weeks ago in the parking lot by a pissed off customer (another black cloud thing). That doesn't have so much to do with this story but thought I would point out the black cloud.

House lights up... So Walt and I had this long conversation about life. He told me he was getting old. I said "you should see life through these eyes." I don't think he got what I was saying. Anyway, I asked him why he thought he was old and he said he had been out to lunch and saw a bunch of girls with VERY short shorts and skimpy tops. He said a few years ago that would have "turned him on" but all he could think of now was "does your mother know you are dressed like that?"

We talked about how when he was in high school he did pretty much what he wanted and I never really set a curfew for what time he had to be home as long as he told me where he was going to be and when he would be home. He said he couldn't remeber the last time we argued (well I can, it was about 6 months ago). Anyway at the end of the conversation he told me that I was a good mom and he loved me.

I always thought that he would figure that out.

Change of Plans

Well, Lynn decided that we didn't need to risk going to Port Aransas after all. He was afraid we would get there and then have to turn around and evacuate. So here is the current location of the hurricane.

On Monday the computer model had it hitting Corpus Christi (or between CC and Port Aransas) and now it looks like it might hit Port O'Connor. Each time they update the projected target is diffrent but still too close to where we would have been. At any rate it is best that we changed our plans. We will go on September 25 now. Maybe we will get to see all the junk that washes up and help clean the beach.

Port Aransas and Hurricane Ike

Well, we have planed a trip to Port Aransas for 2 months now (leaving Wednesday). Lynn is dying to get away and I am happy to be somewhere with him. However, it seems that Ike is headed right to our destination. That doesn't matter to him but I am a bit worried. I said we should fill up with gas when we get there in case we have to evacuate (if that happens it will cut our vacation short by about 3 days). The computer generated models seem to point the eye of the storm between Corpus Christi and Galveston. Well, maybe everything will be just fine. I hope so anyway. When we get home I am sure I will have tons of pictures to post.

Marching Season

Well, I don't have a kid in marching band anymore but I dearly love marching season. There is a high school about 2 miles away and when the wind blows just right you can hear the drums. I will always be a "band mom." Walt (the black cloud kid) was in the band through high school. So far I think I am most proud of that. Sure I am proud that he FINALLY graduated from college and he has a great job but the band thing was his first real struggle and he stuck with it. I could go on for days about why I think the band gave him the resources he needed to get through life up to this point but that would be boring to anyone except me. Instead here is the second most boring thing (to anyone except me)... Pictures from marching band.

Jorge the rat

I didn't start this blog unlit mid 2008 so I am going to catch up on things I wish I could have blogged about sooner.

Around Thanksgiving, 2007, we noticed that we had a rat(s) sharing our home. Started out with sounds in the wall and then little "calling cards" left around in various places. We have always had a problem with either mice or rats because we live in what used to be a rural area that has now become very urban with new homes popping up every day. We also have a wooded area and a large field across from our home.

Late one night I am sitting at the computer and I see something out of the corner of my eye. I quickly glanced over to the spot where I thought I saw something and of course there was nothing there. This happened several times before I actually saw the rat eating the dog food. The stinker would grab a piece of food and run away. So we put out traps. One day I asked "still no Jorge?" (Yes I named the rat) and Lynn said NOPE NOT YET. No takers on the peanut butter lathered traps. Not being one to give up on a plan, I kept setting the traps and never caught one of the little buggers. Finally we decide to put out poison (the last resort, I didn't want a rat dying in the wall).

Fast forward to Christmas Eve. A dear friend of mine came over to drop off a gift (with her son). I am sitting with my friend and her son. Lynn is in the kitchen with Walter. All of a sudden I hear this loud bang and Lynn disappeared behind the kitchen island. I had sort of an idea of what was going on but was afraid to ask. My friend looked at me, I looked at her with this sort of look that says "well I am not really sure that just happened." I cleared my throat and said "Lynn did you kill Jorge?" He stood up with a cast iron skillet in one hand and my kitchen rug in the other and said "yes and can these be washed?" Oh the mortification! My friend asked if she needed to leave (I can only imagine what she was thinking). I just said everything was OK and kept on with whatever we were talking about. ACK. Well I haven't heard from her since then.
I am sure she is just busy with work stuff.

My dad is a hoot

I posted something about my dad that was too short when I first started this blog. He loves to make videos on the computer with pictures from family events. He adds music and cute filler. All of the things he creates are funny Funny FUNNY! A few months ago he started making videos from pictures and songs he finds on the Internet. Until today he has always burned them and sent them along to me. Today he posted his first video on YouTube. I guess many will not laugh as hard as I do when I get these videos but you have to remember he is almost 80 years old and I always laugh so hard I can't catch my breath.
He is in love with Norah Jones. I would say he has given us at least 8 videos with pictures that have her music in the back ground. Some of it is not suited for family viewing (which makes it oh so much more hysterical). He called me to let me know his video was up. He told me how to find it in a way I had missed before ("sort by" never even noticed it before he told me to look there). Daddy is always teaching me things from how to edit my videos to plugging a rat hole. So without further adieu, here is his first YouTube video. >ôô<

Group Haiku Friday

Well Lotus, aka Sarcastic Mom, had a group effort for her Haiku Friday. It was fun to see what she made of all of the comments. You can read it here:

Group Haiku Jumble!

PS... this was an attempt to get a link added to my blog. If it doesn't work please forgive me. I am new at this and I am trying to do things without help! If the link will not work then you can still read the blog from the link on the right "Sarcastic Mom" >ôô<

Current project

This is my current quilt project. I have no idea what I will do with this quilt (other than let my mom show it at the Anderson Mill Garden Club annual quilt show). The pattern is called Double Pinwheel. I used fabric that was reminiscent of fabric from 1930-1950. I have finished the quilting, working on the binding now. I had a major problem when I tried to add the binding without using pins. It is not perfect and I hope no one notices the mistakes! >ôô<

Green Bag Lady

I have been following the Green Bag Lady blog since June. I don't have the skills to organize something like this but if anyone out there does maybe you could join her in the quest to make your own bags to use when shopping (and give a few away). I love my green Whole Foods and HEB bags. So far this amazing lady has made over 1700 bags and shipped them all over the United States (and several other countries) at NO CHARGE. (At this time she is "sewed out" and is not taking any new requests for bags)Here is her YouTube instructional video on how to make your own bag.

And here is the link to the pattern.
http://www.scribd.com/doc/3285051/Green-Bag-Lady-Pattern
If you do make your own bags you can send an email to the Green Bag Lady (along with pictures) to let her know you are "doing your part" to GO GREEN. There is a link to her blog overthere on the right. >ôô<

Wordless Wednesday (on Thursday)

PhotoHunt

Well I want to do this for fun. I am posting a picture for PhotoHunt it is a little late (I think) but oh well, here it is. I took this picture in Port Aransas.

PhotoHunt 123: Colorful

Walter, Seattle debacle, Halo douchebags and black clouds

My youngest son, Walter, has a black cloud that hovers over his head. I could write a post a day for a year about why I believe this is true. A recent trip to Seattle shows how the black cloud is ever present. Here is a little background info (and a video that shows the armor at the end) about why he was going to Seattle in the first place.

He and a few friends make armor (like costumes) designed from the video game Halo. He and a couple of the guys that make the armor were invited to show the stuff off to a group in Seattle (Microsoft people maybe). They want to get a contract (I think) to make this stuff. They were also invited to meet with some of the staff from Bungie Studios (the group that created Halo or something like that). So here is the Cliff Notes version (in bullet points) why his recent trip to Seattle (the debacle) proves the black cloud theory.

• Arrives at the airport too late to make first flight and is placed on standby. Misses first flight to Seattle due to an inability to tell time (well he can tell time but he doesn't understand the concept) and a few other reasons that shouldn't be discussed.
• Asked if he has any thing to declare he says yes because he has replica firearms based on the firearms in Halo and they look like real guns (sort of). All of his luggage has to be searched, misses standby flight. Placed on standby again.
• Almost 2 hours later catches flight and arrives in Seattle 15 minutes before the first flight he should have been on. Sounds not so black cloudish right? Well he would have booked the flight he actually took if he had looked at arrival times. So maybe not so much black cloud as just dumb when it comes to things like that (inexperience).
• Waits almost 3 hours for the rest of the group to arrive.
• Car sent to pick the group up isn't big enough for all of them and their gear. They have to wait for a second car (first car is a Lincoln Town Car).
• Arrive a hotel that he described as a dump (and then clarifies that it might be called quaint but he thinks it is a dump that charges over $180 a night because some call it quaint).
• Invited to a cocktail party with an open bar and food provided. Again not black cloudish except that all the party goers were really nice to them until they find out Walt and his friends were just invited to show off their armor, then no one would have anything to do with them. Walt and the other guys proceed to eat and drink as much as they could and start calling each other "Halo douchebags" because no one will talk to them.
• Attend some sort of conference (not sure exactly what kind of conference) at a large hotel, they are dressed in their armor. At some point Walt agrees to wear the armor (this is most likely out of order but I can't remember when it happened but too funny to leave out). Because it is hot his feet swell up. The armor was not really made to fit him, when it comes time to take it off he can't get the leg armor off. They are hole up in some sort of food prep area and they look all around to find something to aid in the removal of the armor. The guys find 'butter balls" and start rubbing them all over Walt's feet. Works OK but not great and when the armor finally gets past Walt's heel his friends tug really hard. Well it wasn't really any where close to coming off and they nearly rip the skin off his toes.
• Afterwards go into the lobby and are mobbed by people wanting to take pictures with the Master Cheif from Halo (Walt's friend Adam was dressed as Master Chief, see video).
• Hotel security approach and ask Adam who he is and he says "I am the Master Chief" and the security guy says "SHUT THE FU*K UP WHO ARE YOU?"
• Guys explain who they are and what is going on. They get hauled off to hotel jail (a closet) while security decides what to do with them.
• Security lets them go but make them change into "real" clothes (in the closet) before they let them loose.
• Trek out to find something to eat. Use GPS (on a cell phone) to find a pizza place a few blocks away. Ten blocks later discover that Walt's friend is not reading GPS right and they are about 12 blocks in the opposite direction of the pizza place.
• Find pizza place only to discover that it had closed down about 3 months ago.
• Find another pizza place close by, Walt gets the "dragon" pizza.
• Turns out the "dragon" pizza is so hot no human can eat it but he is so hungry he doesn't care.
• Eyes water so badly he has to wipe away the tears, inadvertently hits his eye with his finger which has all sorts of the really hot junk from the pizza on it. Eyes turn blood red and won't stop watering.
• Next day go to Bungie headquarters. Through the wonder of the Internet word spreads like wildfire that there are "some guys" at the Bungie place dressed up like Halo characters (Bungie has some sort of web cam set up).
• All sorts of screen shots of their visit spread across Halo forums. Not a big deal right? Except Walt's front pocket (the one with his cell phone) has twisted around to the back and he has to reach into his pants to get it turned around which means there are several pictures of him looking like he is "picking his ass."
• Bungie guys give them all sorts of gear (not really sure what that means but OK). Again, no black cloud thing there right? Well turns out that one of the things they get is armor that no one else has unless they work for Bungie. So Walt tells me the armor is something he can dress his character in when he plays Halo online (don't ask me, I don't understand). He says about 80% of the gamers he plays with think it is cool while the other 20% call him "gay" because they don't believe he has that armor if he doesn't work for Bungie. They think he is a big fake, making some sort of fake armor for himself, a Halo douchebag.

OK, well there you go. You decide if that is a black cloud or just a "kid" that has not experienced enough of life to make the right calls. I say it is a black cloud. Oh I know you are reading this thinking "so what" but I tell you I laughed so hard I almost wet my pants when he told me this story. I am sure there is much lost in translation.

Here is the video. Walt is they guy in the black tee-shrit.

Walt makes the helmets. Here is a short video he posted about the durability of the helmets.

There you go. >ôô<

Blog templates, CSS and ACK

Well, I spent several hours playing with the look of my blog. I didn't really like any of the things I tried but I know what to do now so maybe it won't take so long to make it look purrrrrty the next time I try. I added a new link in my favorite blogs to
Dummies Guide to Google Blogger (Beta). . You can find all sorts of info on how to add pictures, fix templates, work with CSS and other helpful info there. Although some of the posts are over a year old the info is still current. The person behind this blog, Vin, seems to be very smart about this stuff and answers many (maybe even all) questions that are posted in the comments even on older posts. What a doll! So now I am way tired (that is the ACK part). Off to watch the Olympics. >ôô<

WT mom or just not ready for a margarita?

So I wasn’t sure I needed to tell this story but I saw this “enter and win” on the Blissfully Domestic blog (http://www.blissfullydomestic.com/) and I had to do it. I need to win The White Trash Mom Handbook for my daughter-in-law. Wanna hear it? Here it be…

I just want to say right now that my step-son and his wife are really about the best parents in the world. She bakes all kinds of goodies at Christmas, birthdays, holidays etc. and he cooks. She admits she isn’t the best cook (awesome baker though) and that task should be left to him. She likes to decorate which means she is always either painting, rearranging the furniture, redoing the bathroom or picking out new art for the wall. Very Martha Stewart (in a better way than MS). They read to their kids, have meals at the table, take the kids everywhere and keep them safe.

A few weeks ago my darling daughter-in-law (stepson’s wife) invited me to a baby shower for a friend of hers. In the domestic bliss that follows being single she decided that having the shower at her house would be way more work than she was up to (and I agree, way easier to have it at a restaurant than your house because of all the obvious reasons and she has two kids, a girl almost 3 years old and a boy 4 months). So I agree to go to the shower (I really was excited to go out to an eatery with other girls instead of my oh-so-sweet husband). So the shower was great and after it was over daughter-in-law asked me if I wanted to stay and have a drink with her. Well, on top of the way fun shower I get to have a drink with one of my favorite people? That is a no brainer on a bad hair day. So we have our drink and she gets a sampler platter (lots of greasy food but who cares and it goes with a margarita). Because she is nursing she has not had any alcohol to drink in over a year. Well, when she gets home young son wants her attention. He will not settle down until she sits down with him and feeds him. About 10 minutes into feeding him (not to worry, this was previously pumped milk) she starts to feel sick (greasy food and margarita don’t mix I guess) and this comes on suddenly. Trying as hard as she can, there is no stopping the Wrath of Margarita. Realizing that she can’t get out of the recliner (where she is feeding the baby) she leans over the side of the chair and … well I think you can figure that part out. Step-son walks in and smells something amiss, but can’t figure out what is going on (she had put the baby down and cleaned up by then). So the next day step-son calls to tell the story. I can hear her in the back ground saying “yeah tell them I am the Mom of the year.” I guess we all have a little WT in us. If you are not laughing until you cry then you just don’t get how funny this whole thing is. Sorry!

Ok, so I didn’t want to tell that story because it really does make her mad at herself and she really is a great mom. She is about as far from WT as she can be but she is from Kentucky (not the hills she would insist) and knows all about WT. I really want to get (win) a copy of The White Trash Mom Handbook for her. I know she would LHAO. I know my little blog doesn’t get the traffic that other blogs get but I get two opportunities to win if I mention this here. So there you go, have to win the book and needed to tell the story of my darling daughter-in-law. >ôô<

Fixing my blog template

I spent several hours fixing my blog template so it looked more better (really? more better?). I finally found something that described how CSS worked (sort of) and I operated on the basic template that blogspot offers. I am going to continue to work on the layout as I am not really happy with the overall look. I want BLING (well you know, not really bling but something close). Wish me luck! And if you have any hints (other than paying someone to do it for me) I would love to hear them! >ôô<

WT birdbath or is it a water feature?

A few years ago my youngest son decided I needed a hammock. He bought one and because there are no trees in my back yard he got the stuff he needed to put the hammock up. One of the things he got was a black tub (whatever) to mix cement in. When he was finished the black tub became a water bowl for the dogs. After we put Cyrus down my husband didn't want to keep using it as water bowl because it was too big (so what?) to use for Cookie. He wanted to get rid of it. Me being the worst pack rat ever hated the idea of throwing away anything that was not broken. I kept putting water in it and he kept dumping it out saying it was too big.

Well, my husband decided we needed a birdbath. He is afraid we are going to go to the poor house any day so he will not break down and buy one. One day, being the funny girl I am, I suggested we should put that black tub on the table in the back yard and fill it with water for the birds (mind you the birds had been using the black tub as a bird bath for years and I was kidding). I didn't expect him to say "what a great idea!"

Well the other day I looked in the back yard and there on the table was the black tub, filled with water, and five doves taking a bath. I was not fast enough to get a picture with them in it but here are the pictures of our new WT "bird bath."

Well yesterday he was outside with Cookie and he rushed in and said "if you fill it up all the way, just till the water is barely spilling over, when the wind kicks up you have a water feature!" (Mind you that is exactly what he said and I had to figure out what he was talking about.) Wow! Now that is multi purpose. So now I have a WT water feature. YIPPEE! >ôô<

Why can't we all get along?

So I am new to this blog thing. There is so much I don’t know about the blog world so I am not a reliable source of information but I will give you my honest impressions. So far I am having a good time with it. Blogging does take a lot of time and I don’t even post daily. I always say I hate to write but that isn’t really true. I do like to write I just don’t like to HAVE to write because that means I am doing it for someone else and I don’t like it when people scrutinize what I have to put a pen to (so to speak) so I will spend hours on a few paragraphs. Even here I spend a large amount of time thinking about what I want to say and how I want to say it so that it doesn’t sound stupid and this is only for fun, right?

At first I just didn’t get the whole blog thing. Who wants to write something that other people can see and then dissect? Why on earth would you want to write about your life? Who cares? Who wants to read a bunch of crap other people are saying about their stupid lives. Well I have discovered I do. I think the reason I felt that way is because the people that I KNOW who blog are people I don’t want to read about. I don’t want to hear about how they got drunk and woke up in some weird place or how their newest tattoo itches. And that is because I had to hear it in real life. I don’t want to find out that they actually hate me but are nice to my face or that they think I am stupid. There are simply things I don’t need to know about the person I sit next to at work. So I found out that reading about people I don’t know IS fun.

I have found all sorts of blogs I really like for all sorts of reasons. Candy’s blog is the first blog I ever really took time to read. After that I found PW and liked that one too so I went on a search for other fun blogs. Some of them I found via links from the blogs I like and others by accident when I was searching for something else (which is how I found Candy’s blog).

Do I wish I could make tons of money just writing about junk that happens in my life? Well sure I do but I don’t think I want all the other crap that goes along with that like people bashing me for expressing myself or posting pictures of my family. I also think it would take up a large (HUGE) amount of time if I really wanted to make an income doing it. And finally I don’t think I would ever be able to make money because nothing I have to say is really that interesting but I can say it here if I want, without making money, and still have fun even if I spend hours over the smallest post.

There seems to be a section of the blogging population that likes to bash “Mommy Bloggers” posting about their daily life and pictures of their kids. You see a lot of people saying that they are “pimping” their kids and the poor darlings don’t deserve that. What about Brangelina? Or other celebs that sell their kids pictures? Aren’t they doing the same thing? I am sure there are plenty of people bashing them too. Sometimes the tone of the bashers sounds resentful, like “I have to say these ugly things because I am not making as much money as they are.” Other times it seems “holier than thou” like “look at me I am so much better than you are because I don’t post about my family.” Yet I see some of the most vulgar things on the basher’s sites. Oh wait, I forgot rule number one: it is ok to say nasty things about people you don’t know as long as you don’t involve your own family. And rule number two: no one will ever print this out for my kids to see because I didn't say anything nasty about my kids, only about other people,the WAY vulgar things I am saying won't hurt my kids because I am so much better than everyone else AND I won't reveal myself because I don't want anyont to know who I am while I say ugly things. Well let me tell you I would have been VERY embarrassed if I had seen something my mother wrote about someone else if she had been that vulgar.

One blogger I found is particularly fond of bashing The Pioneer Woman and Dooce. Personally I don’t really care for the latter but that doesn’t stop me from reading her blog (kind of like a train wreck you can’t look away from). Oh there is other bashing going on but those two seem to get the worst of it. It is sort of funny because I think the more that blogger bashes them the more traffic she sends to them. One common complaint about the blogs I mentioned above is that their kids may be scarred for life because the bloggers tell all sorts of personal stories about the kids. I am pretty sure if their kids grow up to be troubled adults it isnt JUST because their moms blogged about them. Another complaint is that the stories are not true. Some stories are hard to believe but I was not there to witness the encounter so I can’t debunk it. I think that it is funny this particular basher seems to feel like she is going to save the world from people that might really believe everything that PW and D say. Well I think if you have a modicum of intelligence you understand that not everything you read on the Internet is true and these women are running a “business.” They have a right to say whatever they want and if they choose to say their words are the truth then so what? It is supposed to be entertainment, a commentary on life as they see it.

So maybe PW and D embellish the truth. Maybe the truth isn't really that interesting. After all is said and done it is a business for them and they have to keep things fun, real, stupid, yucky etc. or people will stop reading and then they lose their business. Maybe some of these people don’t really need the extra income but so what? They need some sort of creative outlet or they would wither away.

It seems that the biggest problem people have with these bloggers is they talk about things that shouldn't be discussed in "polite company." Maybe D puts too much of herself out there for everyone to see. Maybe that is sort of cathartic for her. There are lots of women that can't relate to their children. So what? Maybe writing keeps her from killing everyone around her. I can remember times that I thought "my kids are the reason I will be put in prison" because I didn't know if I could keep from killing them (not really but you know what I mean I HOPE). I just kept thinking "this will get better" and so far it has. I will not say that my kids don't STILL drive me nuts because that would be a lie (OH MY I hope they don't read this because I would hate it if I made them bad adults because once in a while I admit my kids drive me crazy). Although this is sort of a journal for me and a way to keep up with things I am feeling at the moment I admit I will never knowingly say things that would potentially hurt someone else. This is not the place I will bitch about my husband, kids, family, friends, co-workers etc. (well maybe I will but right now I don't think so) because that is not why I wanted to start a blog. So D airs all her dirty laundry. As I said before, so what? That is why she started a blog. It works for her. It is not my cup of tea but I respect her for doing what she wants to do even if I don't agree. And about her blocking comments on some posts, maybe she can't take reading negative comments. I would hate that too.

So I won't post a comment on the basher's blogs because I don't think that anything I might say would make them "get it" and although I might waste my time reading the crap they write I don't want to waste my breath trying to convince them they are acting like teenagers because that won't change their mind. Instead I will spend hours of precious time writing about how stupid they are acting on my blog (go figure).
AMENDMENT, August 21, 2008. I did cave and post a comment. Just to rant. I know it doesn't make them understand what they are doing is just as wrong as the people they bash but I feel better.

Well I have decided I have spent too much time on this way too long rant. I have looked it over and over so if my grammar is bad or I have way too many misspelled words forgive me. I won't be mad if you post a comment telling me so. >ôô<

New book by Johnny Bush

Whiskey River (Take My Mind): The True Story of Texas Honky-Tonk is the autobiography of Johnny Bush. I have not read the entire book yet but will at some time. Anyway, my husband is a musician. He will always be a musician but he doesn't play as much as he did when he was young and in fact now he has a "real job" now (something he didn't get until well after he was 40). When he was about 20 years old he played with Johnny. So my hubby was mentioned in the book and described as "incorrigible" and "rowdy" (nothing like he is now HAHA). When he saw that he said "what does incorrigible mean?" Kind of like "why did he say that?" I said "it means you are a pain in the ass" and he smiled and said "good." (See, he isn't incorrigible!) Oh the stories my husband can tell! He got drafted into the army around 1970 and during basic training he decided he need a "break" so he took two weeks off to play with Johnny, sort of like a vacation but more like AWOL. When he returned to the base they told him he would have to finish basic (he was scheduled to have two weeks off after basic but they took that back) and he would be docked a months pay. He asked them if they wanted cash, they weren't happy. (Mind you, I think he really did that but maybe the truth was a bit embelished.) He did finally finish his obligation and got an honorable discharge (and I am sure they were not trying too hard to get him to stay). This is the picture he got from the guys in the band when he was away at basic training. >ôô<

Meet the baby

Well I think I forgot to say anything about our dog, Cookie. She is a mini long hair dachshund (mini being an euphemism for small and fat). She is 9 years old and I love her to death. She was a gift to my son from a girlfriend in high school. When he went away to college I wouldn't let him take her. So he got 3 dogs to take her place but that is another story. She has us well trained. She won't get out of bed in the morning until I do. She has her own bed on the floor next to my side of the bed. For a very short time she slept with us, until she hurt her back jumping off the bed. When I leave for work she jumps on the sofa and doesn't move until I get home (this according to my husband). When he gets home she just picks her head up and looks at him like "ugh, you again?" As soon as I walk in the door she starts barking at me until I get her a treat. Then promptly at 5:16 (well something close to that) she sits down next to my husband and wont leave him alone until he takes her outside where she charges over to the fence to bark at the neighbor's dogs (irritates my husband to death). She will follow me into the kitchen when I cook waiting for me to drop something and boy she is FAST no chance to pick up anything that falls. She was really sick a few weeks ago (all better now). Her doggie doctor never didn't really figure out what was wrong with her ($600 later). So here she is... such a princess!



Sadly we had to say goodbye to Cookie's best bud and our other "baby" last year. His name was Cyrus and he was a mix of black lab and dalmation. He was so scared of Cookie when she was a puppy. It was cute. Here he is! >ôô<

The boat dock

Well I made a short little slide show about the dock. Nothing really spectacular but made me feel good. I really do miss her! The begining is when the dock arrived and my dad and uncle were hooking it to the rocks. Then me (so cute), my grandma, mom watersking a other pics of family and friends. The last few pics are of the guys taking her apart. >ôô<

Phone numbers

Does anyone remember when you could look at a phone number and know ABOUT where someone lived? I hate that there are so many new "exchanges" and cell phone numbers. I used to know what part of town someone lived in by the phone number and that made me happy. And what about phone books? I used to love my "little" phone book but it has been years since I have used one because you need a forklift to get it off the table. Why doesn't the phone company give up on them? The information there isn't any more current than what you can find on the Internet. And what about websites? I have gotten to the point I don't really want to even go to a business if they don't have a website where I can preview the stuff the have. I guess over all I am glad we have all of this (the Internet) at our fingertips but miss some of the things we had in the "old days." >ôô<

OMG My blog list disappeared

Now what am I going to do? My blog list disappeared! I was fooling around with the HTML but I am pretty sure I didin't delete anything. Maybe someone took it!?!?! If you see it please let me know. I don't know how on earth I will remeber all the blogs I had there but I will give it a try. Doo Doo! >ôô<

Oldest dock on Lake Travis, Volente, Texas

Today was the end of an era. We lost a dear friend today, the boat dock. I am really torn between being sad that she is gone and way happy that my parents don't have to go down to the water and adjust her daily. The poor dear was in bad shape even though daddy took great care of her. Daddy got a notice from the LCRA a few days ago that said he had to replace the old styrofoam with something that was encapsulated by 2014. I don't think she could have handled that, she would have broken apart (and daddy said we would all be dead by then, what the heck is he thinking?). She was used to having the styrofoam. It was, by our account, the oldest private dock on Lake Travis. It was built in 1968 by Mike Carter and that makes her 40 years old (and part of my life for as long as I can remember). My grandpa paid for it and the best that daddy can remember it cost about $850. I am sure daddy put in about ten times that amount keeping her afloat all these years. He had a real hodgepodge of junk keeping her together. Everything from cable, pipes and angle iron to a bunch of 2x4's, bolts and a license plate (not kidding). Oh, and an old tire to keep the cat walk from breaking apart on the rocks when boats made big wakes. About 5 years ago he had someone "re-float" it with new styrofoam and that cost a bunch. Well we loved that old dock. Lots of good times with family and friends. Six generations in all (from my great-grandmother to my step-grand kids). My parents had my ex-husband haul her off and cut her up for scrap (it cost more to take apart than it cost to build in 1968). He had my son Les and my cousin's husband Bill to help. They also had Steve Carter helping. Steve is the son of the man that built her so that was very appropriate (we are the same age so he was five when it was built). They had to move her over near Volente Beach Club to do the deed and I honestly thought she would sink before they got her over there. Well the old girl didn't sink on the way and she stayed afloat until they pulled the last of her out with a backhoe. There was a locker on the dock (you can see it in some of the pictures) that had been there since it was new and I asked my son to bring it to me when they were finished. It is ugly, rusty, full of holes (including a bullet hole that I am sure Tony Wright put there, bless his heart) and all kinds of dirty but I love it. It holds all sorts of memories for me and I just didn't want it hauled off for scrap. Lynn said we should paint it and put it in the "music" room (Walter's old room). I told him I don't want to paint it, I want to keep it just like it is because if we paint it then it is "just an old painted locker" and not the same. He said "well we can keep it in the garage then." We will see who wins that battle! Well here are the pictures and I hope (hope hope hope) to have a video soon to DOCKument our time with the old girl. >ôô<

Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

Counter

I love my counter, I can see how many times I have visited my blog! I know I am the only one here here Here HERE (is there and echo?). >ôô<

Picnik

Well I tried the Picnik photo editing website. So far I really like it. It seems pretty easy to navigate and you can do unlimited editing for free. Of course you can upgrade and do so other "special" things but right now I don't think I will spend the money to do that. Picnik has some pretty fun frames, text and photo editing tools. I am looking for ways to make my pictures more fun without having to spend hours doing it. I really am a NOOB when it comes to blogging and I don't really have a lot of time to spend doing this so anything that is quick and easy is top on my list. The only way I have ever learned to do something "cool" with anything I attempt is to search the Internet and find an answer. I don't have friends that have elaborate blogs so I can't ask anyone. If I see something I like on a blog I head to Google and see if I can find anything that will lead me to a website that will help me replicate what I have seen. Still trying to figure out how I can make my blog background more attractive. I don't really like the basic options that are available on blogspot. I took a class on C++ programing once and dropped it after I decided there were too many ways to program something and my teacher wanted us to program just like her because she had the "best way" to do it. I know everyone has their own style when it comes to programing and maybe one way is better than another but I just didn't understand why I had to do it her way when my way worked just as well and I understood it. Oh well! I am going to keep trying new things until I find the most awesome and easy way to make my blog outstanding! I have added a link to Picnik at the bottom of my page if anyone is interested. Need some sleep now... I hate that I have to work a "real job" to make money to live (haha). Well that isn't totally true, I do love my job! I just wish I had more free time to spend doing other things. Of course if I didn't have a job I couldn't afford to do the things I love to do! I guess that is the opportunity cost of life.
Gosh I really got off track!
Picnik can "grab" pictures from many of the most popular photo sharing websites and allows you to edit and then save them back to the original site. It really was easy to use and the results were good. Of course if you have other photo editing programs that you have paid for and have time to play with maybe Picnik isn't something you will want to use. Photoshop is great for someone that wants to really spice their pictures up and make them look like a pro took them but I don't have time to figure it out and most of the things I want to do are not really elaborate. I just want to have something easy to use that makes the pictures "cute." I am also stuck between making the picture perfect to begin with and wanting to alter it and make it OH SO MUCH BETTER. I love taking pictures and can remeber when I had a 35mm camera. You really had to make sure every picture counted because you didn't have an opportunity to "retouch it" or "delete it" and film was expensive. I love my digital camera. I have seen so many GREAT photos on blogs that I just don't think anything I ever do will match them so I am going for simple.
To sum it up give Picnik a try if you want something easy to use. >ôô<

Birthday party for Tess and Emma

So Sunday was Tess's birthday. A few weeks ago she said she wanted to go over to my parent's house for her birthday and have chili dogs and homemade ice cream. Because Emma's b-day was the 18th we decided to have a party for both of them. Well daddy found out a few weeks ago that he has clogged carotid arteries (one side 90% and the other 50% clogged). Since daddy if fairly worried about this mom thought it would be a good idea if I went over to their house to help make the chili and ice cream the day before. I agree that it is a good idea and so on Saturday I set off to help. Well I didn't help at all with the chili (daddy did that) but I did make the ice cream (you should "cook" the ice cream mix and chill it overnight). Daddy has an old hand crank ice cream maker and we all took turns turning the crank. After about 30 minutes we deemed the ice cream done and set off to eat the chili dogs. Oh, I also baked a cake on Sunday morning for the party. Well when it came time to eat the ice cream we discovered it was pretty soft (runny) and frozen solid at the bottom. Oh well, it was still really good. Daddy thinks we didn't pack enough ice over the top of the ice cream maker after we stopped cranking it. Over all we all had a great time, the chili was AWESOME as was the ice cream. My oldest son said (when I told him I was going to go help make the chili) "so grandpa is finally going to tell you his secret eh?" Well I still don't know that I have the "secret" because aside form a few things he does different (he adds stew meat chopped into small pieces and does not add onions or beans) I make mine the same way and it is not nearly as good. I think he sticks his finger in it and that makes all the difference. OH I almost forgot, we had tamales too cuz my oldest son loves em! >ôô<

Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

The Blue Hanger

If you like to go to garage sales then I think you will love the Blue Hanger. It's like a garage sale on steroids. In case you don't know the Blue Hanger is the outlet store for Goodwill in Austin. There are two locations; McNeil Road and Springdale Road. I have not had the courage to visit the Springdale location as it does not have AC and in the hot Austin summers I think that would be the death of me. There are tables and tables of cast off stuff. Some of it very nice and others that should have just been thrown away. I talked my husband into going and he actually liked it (although as we walked out he said "I really need to wash my hands" and this from a man that NEVER washes his hands).
One side of the giant warehouse space has tables and tables of clothes just dumped out onto them and the other side has tables of large items looking ready to topple off onto the ground and smaller items in blue totes. Once an hour or so the staff hauls some of the tables out and replaces them with new tables full of new stuff. That is fun to watch. You are not allowed to go down the "row" where the tables are being replaced so people line up watching the staff pull the tables out to see if there is anything they want to grab when they get the OK. Once the tables are in place there is a free for all with people rushing up to see if there is anything they want. Stuff literally goes flying. You will hear lots of stuff banging, breaking and crashing. There are kids everywhere playing with the toys. Kids on scooters, bikes and skateboards. It doesn't seem that anyone pays any attention to what their kids are doing. Often you will get hit by a small flying object, a kid on a bike or children running down the isles. Today I walked past a young woman that seemed to be somewhat mentally impaired. She tapped my arm and pointed to a couple of kids hanging on the doors that keep people from entering the actual warehouse. They were looking through the windows in the door hanging on by their fingertips. Without thinking I said "hey you need to get down off of there" and suddenly realized I was telling kids that didn't belong to me how to act. Boy I am a mom!
There are several types of people shopping at the Blue Hanger. Many of the shoppers will just grab anything they see, throw it into a basket and then go off into a corner to see if it is really worth taking home. Others pick carefully through piles of clothes to see if they can find anything nice. Some just dive into a bin and start throwing things aside in a effort to find something valuable. I am a "skimmer." I just look over the piles of stuff and if I see something interesting I will pull it out. I don't really like to pick too much of that stuff up. I have found some really nice baby clothes, coats, jeans etc. there. All clothing is $1.25 (probably will go up just like everything else though).
Today I got 2 bundles of fat quarters (brand new) and only paid $1.50 each (both were marked over $7.00 from the retail shop that sold them). I also got a cute wooden magazine rack ($1.50) and a picture frame that was marked $1.75 from Hobby Lobby (that was their sale price I paid $1.00 which might have been too much but it was cute).
So just like the trip to Sam's we made this a family thing. Mom, Ann, Leslie, Les, Emma and I went. Leslie got a really beautiful rug for $15 and it looked brand new. It is about 6ftx10ft, cream and rose. I am sure it was well over $300 new and there was nothing wrong with it. She also got 2 really HUGE balls (the kind covered in fabric like you would play with in the pool), a great porcelain like child's tea set, several skirts, 2 pairs of pants and MORE. Her damage was $37. I spent about the same (seems each time I go there that is what I spend) and got the magazine rack, about 2 yards of bright yellow fabric with flowers, 14 fat quarters, toy duck (too cute), lots of baby clothes and bibs, 2 baskets, 5 cloth diapers (brand new, whew), a pair of shorts, 2 hand embroidered pillow cases trimmed in crochet and a brand new picture frame. I have found lots of things with the tags on them. One of the baskets I got was hand made (had a tag saying so).
Of course the fun is not without pain. Aside from the kids running around like banshees there are random weird smells (like a box that smelled like vomit), all kinds of sticky stuff, tripping hazards and broken glass. You just have to be careful. Some people wear gloves, personally I don't like to dig down deep enough to wear gloves. And there are things that make you sad like a photo album full of pictures or a book inscribed "to Jennifer, happy Valentine's Day love Grandma and Grandpa." Who gives that stuff up?
So to sum it up, if you have a couple of hours to spend and don't mind digging through piles and piles of junk, it is well worth the trip to the Blue Hanger. >ôô<

Forth of July

We had a great time at my Aunt's house on Lake Travis. One more birthday passed with much (maybe too much) celebration. Pictures of all the sillyness are here! WARNING there are about 185 pictures in this slideshow. View at your own risk!




Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

Work in progress

Well this is really a work in progress. I am playing with things to see what I can add and how it works. Still not sure if this is fun or WORK! I played with posting a slide show with Flickr and now I am going to try Webshots to see which I like best. I added a counter for fun and so far it looks like I am the only one looking at my blog! I added other blogs I like to my blog list and I am working on favorite links. WHEW this is work!

Port Aransas birds

So we really love Port Aransas. We would like to go down there more often but we can only manage two trips a year. We usually go around the last week of May and the first week of September (before and after the summer rates). We always take hundreds (literally) of pictures down there. Here are a few of the birds. I love bird pictures! I will add others later, off to bed!

Crested Caracara

Seagull (of course)

Brown Pelican

Blue Heron

Celling fan woes

Well my oh so darling step-son James put in a new celling fan for me today for my birthday. Lynn bought it and James put it in so it was a gift from them both. I LOVE IT! I am really hoping it will reduce our electric bill. The switch and the way he wired it are sort of WT but what the heck. He didn't charge us and I can live with the 2 switches so close together. Did I say I LOVE IT? It is so funny when he helps us with electrical stuff he gets all "yes I am an electrician" and struts around moaning about how stupid the people were when they wired our house. Get to hear lots MFs. It was 3 hours of hell while he did it but again what the heck it is done. It isn't perfectly balanced but I think it is ok. He said I should not call him if it falls.

To date he has replaced most of the switches and outlets in our house. We are still waiting for him to do the bathrooms and kitchen (which he wont do unless we get the kind of plugs that trip).

so tired

So after 6 days spent keeping Les company (and "working") at the hospital I really wanted to send time posting stuff on my blog. I am WAY tired but I want to try and get some of this stuff out. I am off for the next week (thank GOD I asked for time off 2 months ago so although it happened at the same time as Les being sick it was not planed that way). I think I will post several little things just for fun. We shall see how far I get tonight. So tired I can't be sure I have not repeated myself.

ACK

OK, so for the last 3 weeks I have been doing things that have really worn me OUT. First I had the craft sale stuff to make and then my oldest son got sick. One week ago Les (oldest son) started to feel bad. Last Saturday he started have an upset stomach (vomiting) at work. Girlfriend Emma picked him up early from work and took him home. Not a big deal, that happens to people all the time. So we (Emma, mom and I) went to the Blue Hanger to see if we could find anything cool, of course we found lots of things! Les stayed home cause he felt bad. Later that night Emma called to say she thought Les had fever and wanted to know if I had a thermometer she could use (hell yeah I did, I am a mom right?). A little later she called to say that he had 104 degree fever and wanted to know what to do. Well, I told her to take him to the hospital. If he had been with me at home I am sure I would have told him to buck up and ride it out but I didn't know what he really felt like so the hospital was the best I could come up with. They kept him there for about 5 hours, did MRI and spinal tap, and sent him home. Next day (Sunday) his fever was back and he was vomiting again. Emma hauled him back to the hospital. Way long story short they did every test in the world to him, decided to keep him "overnight" for observation and that was that. I figured they would keep him overnight and send him home... NOT... he was admitted until he could keep solid food down. Fast forward to today (Friday, 6 days after he started to feel bad and went to the ER) and he finally comes home from the hospital. Needless to say I have had a long week! Half days at work and the rest of the time spent at the hospital emptying his emesis pan, changing sheets and keeping him company (of course Emma was there doing the same and more). Yes we both changed the sheets as it was obvious that the nursing staff was far too busy with other patients to take time to change sheets (and that is not to say he didn't get good care I think the staff didn't have time to do all the things that needed to be done). Emma and I were not the only people that kept him company. His dad was there each day as well as my mother (grandma). Other family members and friends stopped by to visit too. It would take me forever to describe the whole week at the hospital and I am just too worn out to do that. In the end there was never an official diagnosis. We don't know why his fever was so high for so long or why he couldn't keep even ice chips down. He is better now and that is all we care about. OMG there are so many other things to say about the hospital but I don't have the energy.

Craft stuff

It is nearly 2am and I had to do this before I go to bed. I don't have to work tomorrow, well I have things to do at home but I took the day off from work. I am working fast and furious to get some "craft" things done for mom. I am making things to donate to the garden club for the craft sale (I hope pictures will be here soon). So I always say (tongue in cheek) that I want to leave a really big foot print behind so people will know I was here. Well I decided to use old jeans and make "stuff" out of them. So I guess this is how I will minimize my footprint.

AMENDMENT... I wrote the above rambling crap 2 weeks or so ago. so much has happend since then but I wanted to post this anyway. Pics are here now. Crafts of all kinds! The craft sale was a success however I don't think that anything that I made was sold to anyone other than my family (they love my creations). Here they are!