i simply cannot be a pagent mom anymore.

oops... somehow, i published this without writing anything on it... sry...

anyway.

No, I cannot be a pagent mom anymore.

Our first was the costume contest at Petsmart. I thought it was a bit dodgy to begin with, when they announced that the winners would be decided by an applause-o-meter, one guy being the meter. Now obviously, Caroline was the cutest one there, but I thought that we received applause ratings of about 2nd. The "Meter" didn't even think she was good enough to be a finalist. Later, he was patting her, and she peed on him. Good Girl.
The winners: 1) A boxer, wearing boxer shorts & boxing gloves hanging from his collar. (incredibly simple, but cute) 2) A chihuahua, wearing a tiny cowboy hat, bandana, and saddle with a cowboy riding him. (admittedly adorable- by applause, we were 2nd to him) and 3) a dragon costume from target. Cute, but same as the boxer- SO easy. We weren't the only contestant to get ripped off- a cat (!) on a leash (!!) dressed in a lobster costume (!!!) and sitting in a pot (lol).

The second contest was at the Pleasanton Public Library. Strangely, there was a little more competition here, but she was still the cutest. Caroline's category was "best homemade costume". The winner? A papillon terrier as "The Tin Man". The costume: A piece of foil wrapped around his belly. The owner: The LIBRARIAN. At a contest sponsored by the library. Did I mention she was a judge too? hmmm... RIGGED MUCH???

Grrrrr.... Oh well... I know my baby was the sweetest & cutest & most well behaved one at both events, and she had a lot of fun meeting the other doggies.

INTRODUCING:
CAROLINE, THE GYPSY GENIE BELLY DANCER!!!
(every time I put her down, she did a little shake that sent the beads on her pants twirling)

Thank you Mom for the idea & the hours of handstitching- I had fun!

Non-Transformers

Did you know that if you go to the store looking for a Transformer toy, you have to be careful & be sure to get one that actually transforms?? Most are "Fixed State/ Non-Transforming" Transformers. RIDICULOUS.

Sticky and Patriotic.

Boy do I have poor spatial awareness. This morning, I noticed a hummingbird hovering around our month-old feeder, so I decided to make him some fresh juice. Not much, only a half feeder full or so.... if even that. We don't want the juice spoiling in this heat before they can drink it. I made some up, and was pouring it into a jar to put into the freezer (I always do this so they don't burn their little tongues on hot juice). I realized too late that I had made about twice as much as would fit into the jar. There was a sticky red mess alllllll over me and the kitchen. *sighhh*

As of right now, the new juice is still cooling, and the hummer is getting bombed on the old and probably fermented juice outside.

As promised, I'm including a completely unrelated story from Ruidoso here.

Last year, a local casino/resort hosted a massive firework show/ cookout/ live music fandango on the Fourth of July. The place is simply not built for that large a volume of people, and they had HUGE problems with traffic. This year, they decided to hold it on the 2nd, in hopes of avoiding the additional holiday weekend crowds. James and I had heard horror stories of people having to park up to 2 miles away the previous year, so we were pretty worried. Turned out, we shouldn't have! We arrived at about 5, pulled straight into the parking garage & parked about where we usually did, walked down to the lakeside. There were lots of people there, but we picked a spot, laid out our beach towels, and went into the casino to play some cards. About 9:00, we headed outside, found our towels, and plopped down just in time for a spectacular show. It was perfect!!! Great fireworks, a light breeze blowing away from us, so I didn't have any trouble smelling the sulfur... Did I mention that it was about 60°??? Absolutely amazing. We didn't get any pics of the fireworks (too hard to enjoy the full scene through a two inch view finder), but this was the sunset at the same place a few nights later. I'm sure you can imagine the fireworks reflecting off the water and the explosions echoing through the mountains.

Ow. I tell you what, Ow.

So earlier today, I gouged my hand with a pair of scissors. I was trying to cut the packaging off our new can opener (YAY- gnawing is no longer the most effective method to open canned goods!!!), the scissors slipped, and of course, since they were open, cut my hand in two separate places.

I just thought that hurt...

Later, I was boiling some water in my tea kettle. Usually, the handle is heatsafe, so you can pick it up without mitts, even when the water is boiling. Not so today. It was super hot, so I tried to quickly set the kettle back down, and when I did, some water sloshed out on my hand. That sent the kettle flying, pouring almost the whole kettlefull directly on me. Or rather, directly on my right boob. HOLYPOO.

So now my right chestybits are covered in bandages & an inch thick layer of burn cream. The doc said usually second degree burns arent that bad, but since they're on such a *ahem* sensitive area, they're having me come in for the next few days to clean & have the bandages professionally changed. I got a tetnaus shot (I didn't even tell them about the scissors fiasco), a pain shot, and some vicodin. I'm totally looped right now, and very happily itching like mad, because I'm no longer in much pain. I already slept for a few hours, and I woke up a couple of times with my face held in very theatrical positions... like... a big giant "hmmmm...", an "eeeeeew" crinkled nose, and a very skeptical "uh, yah right". So g'night! I'm off to have some incredibly bizarre dreams...

Good thing James is not as picky as Max

Last night, I made this for supper. It was good... not great. Definitely RaeRay's (or my) best recipe, but better than edible. James & I both feel the same way about sundried tomatoes: We like the flavor & the asthetics they add to a meal, but neither of us would care to voluntarily bite into one. When we finished, both our bowls were left sitting on the coffee table, with them left in it. I did accidentally burn them, but only a bit, and since they were soaked in soy sauce, they didn't look very pleasant... like slugs.

We were watching tv, & before we could get around to bussing our dishes, Max hopped up on the table. He sniffed around our bowls very curiously, circling around it several times, then, to show us what he thought of my cooking, he turned around, and started "covering" it with his paws on the table... evidently he thought it looked and smelled like something that should be in his litterbox.

Weiiiiiird...

I've been going to the gym every Monday, Wednesday, & Friday for two weeks now. Today was the first day I haven't gone, and I actually kinda sorta 2% missed it!!!! I don't know why though... last week I actually gained 3 lbs... grrrrr... nevermind. I didn't miss it. I'm boycotting.

On a happier note, Mom & Dad are visiting us!!! And they actually have their very own bedroom & bathroom!!! YAY!!!

Squishy

Today, I got to have lunch with a friend I haven't seen in about two years. We used to work together, & then she moved out of state, but she's recently moved back to town.

The last time I saw her, her son was in daycare, & she lived next door to her mother in law, so I thought I was safe. No such luck- she's now a stay at home mom, so four year old Jaiden came to lunch with us. Boy was I ecstatic.

Of course, he instantly became my "best fwiend", and wanted to sit by me. As kids go, he was pretty intelligent, fairly polite, and a very talkative & personalitied little thing.

Around the time Sarah was telling me "ugh, I've GOT to go to the gym today... I can barely fit into my size 3 jeans today!", Jaiden gave me a biiiiiiig hug, and proclaimed loudly enough for our waiter & all the surrounding tables to hear,

"WOW!!! You're really SQUISHY!!!"

He then proceeds to poke me everywhere, to see just how squishy I am... ("your ARMS are squishy... and your LEGS are REALLY squishy!", etc.)

Dallas Weekend Omission of Very Impotant Evening

But I promise, it wasn't my fault!!!

I swear there was a whole big-ole paragraph about getting to eat dinner with my darling cousin/ MofH Jess & her boyfriend Michael on Sunday night! She left me a sad comment, so I went back & re-read it, and it was missing! I know that sometimes when I highlight all the text to change the color, some stuff gets deleted or moved around, but I usually catch it, because it usually does it in the middle of words or other paragraphs... All I can think is that it got deleted, but cleanly, so I didnt catch that something was missing... So here is the missing event:

Sunday night, James & I met up with my darling cousin/ MofH Jess, and her boyfriend Michael. We ended up being a bit late to her house because of my inability to pull James away from the attractions of Fair Park, so by the time we got there, the poor things were starved. They took us to a YUMMMMMY gourmet pizza place... you know it's going to be good if they refer to their pizzas as "Pies". It was so nice to get to be with them... particularly Michael, because we so rarely get to see him outside of Best-Behavior-ENTIRE-Family-Mode. Unfortunately (because we were so late, I'm afraid), by the time we got back to Jess' place, it was past Mikey's bedtime, and he had to go home, so we just went in for a quick looksey around... James had never been there before, and Jess has tons of pics from when we were kids & in college & stuff. I am so jealous of how cute her place is... She had it all decorated up for fall... cute little punkins & leaves & cute dishes & stuff. In fact, at her inspiration, I am going to Hobby Lobby tomorrow to get James' place all Fall'd up.

So, Jess, this one's for you... I'm sorry!!!! I promise, it was COMPLETELY inadvertant!!!

how can people be so ugly?

sometimes, i just don't understand people.

ok, well, a lot of times, but particularly about things like this.

Last night, some stupid kids broke into the house my parents are building, and destroyed everything. Took a sledge hammer to all the windows, the fireplace, the roof, the wall beams... everything. They didn't steal anything, and there were a number of expensive tools and copper wiring in the electrical work they ripped out, so evidently, it was all just for fun.

I'm sure my parents are more devastated than they're letting on... they're acting like they're just sad we can't have the wedding at home now. I know they're just dying for a house of their own again, since they've been in limbo for practically a year. This setback is so heartbreaking for them; this house is their (or at least my mom's) baby and light at the end of the tunnel. Sure, they'll fix everything, but who knows how much longer it will take now, what with insurance drama and a police investigation.


pooooooo. big doodoo heads.

There's a Grasshopper in the Ham!!!

Tonight, I made us a lovely supper of homemade chicken cordon bleu with fondue sauce & asparagus wrapped in pancetta. Unfortunately, somehow a little friend got into the ham while I was cooking, and when I yelled, "There's A GRASSHOPPER in the HAM!!!", nobody understood what i was talking about. I had to yell it a bunch of times before James came to take care of it for me... Anyway, Aspen got a little treat tonight.

Kids: Gotta love em!

I was at Ikea the other day, when a little kid actually made my day.

A little boy that looked to be about 2, was kinda wandering around behind his shopping parents, eating an ice cream cone. All of a sudden, the ice cream fell off his cone. I prepared myself for total meltdown, but the kid was totally unconcerned. Rather than freak out or tell his parents, he simply reached down, picked up the blob of ice cream, & stuffed it into the pocket of his cargo shorts.


I just kept walking, laughing my head off.

Ohps.

So when we got back yesterday (around 5:30 pm), we decided a nap was in order...

I crashed on the couch, and when I woke up, the clock said it was a little before 6, & it was dark. Since it is totally not unreasonable for me to sleep more than 12 hours even when I'm not completely sleep deprived, I assumed it was morning, & got up. I was all proud of myself for getting up so early... I made coffee, and thought I'd maybe write my brother, maybe go to the grocery store when it opened...

By the time I realized the clock was broken, and it was actually about 1:30 in the morning, I had already consumed the entire pot of coffee, so there was no way I could go back to sleep any time soon. I ended up playing poker til almost 5.

FAIL.

Dashed are the dreams of the ambitious...

ZZZZZZZZZ

I am EXHAUSTED from my wideawake night followed by DIY day. We worked & worked & worked & worked & worked, and after 4 more trips to Home Depot/ Lowes, we have 1 1/2 installed fans, no light at all in the kitchen, 1/2 of the bedroom ceiling painted, 1/4 of the living room ceiling painted, and two very short tempers.

We bought this to help paint, and it works well, but it's pretty heavy when it's full of paint... I just read one tip to *duh* only fill it halfway, so I'll be trying that tomorrow. I don't have the upper body strength to paint the vaulted ceiling with it while I'm halfway up a ladder. We got one the other day, used one tube full, dropped it & broke it, then went back (trip #2 of the day) to HD to replace it.

Anyway, Max thinks we've built him his very own jungle to play in, what with all the plastic drapings & oddly placed furniture. OH... and... about that plasticwrap... yah, the camera is buried somewhere beneath it all... if I find it, I'll take a few pics, but I just couldn't be bothered with it today...

*sips lemonade* here's to better luck tomorrow.

It's 2:30 in the morning...

... and I can't sleep.

Musta been that pot o' coffee I had before bedtime...

oh well...

now my brain is spinning with everything I need to get done.

We are remodeling! The living room is in a TOTAL shambles. Everything is pushed to the center of the room & draped with plastic (which Max LOVES). So far, we've ripped up all the old baseboards, re-textured 2 walls (one of which was the lovely 70's dark wood paneling), taken down those awful vertical blinds hiding our 12 feet of sliding glass doors/ windows, and ripped off the old vertical moulding on another wall. AND spent a retarded amount of time & money at Home Depot... I think they must put Eau de Ambition in the air vents there... something about the smell of places like that makes me think I can build/ fix anything, if only I were to purchase all the most complicated equipment I can find.

Today, we bought wall paint (Cliff Rock), Trim paint (Ultra Pure White), more rollers, brushes, tarps, & tape than we can ever use, a new ceiling fan for the living room, a chandelier for the dining room, cool track lighting for the kitchen, heat resistant brushed nickel paint for the fire box & old ceiling fan, & new plates for all the switches & plugs in the house.

Tomorrow, I'm painting the ceiling, finishing up the 2nd coat of texture on the Wall Formerly Known as Ugly Wood Paneling, and hopefully *crossing fingers* gonna start putting up some color. All this white is soooo boring.

Then, we get to go pick out new baseboards & crown molding. Unfortunately, I didn't get a good "Before" picture, but tomorrow, I'll take a couple of "During" pictures, so you can see how bad it reeeeeeally is.

Of course, the longest wall in the living room passes through the kitchen, entryway, and dining room, so they'll all have to be redone soon too... I'm thinking a nice green for the kitchen... there's really not much wall space in there, so that can really be an accent color for the living room... I'm not sure yet about a color for the dining room... any ideas? It's a VERY small area, but it's got a big bay window, so it's pretty well lit.


Anyway... sorry... thanks for listening to (IE: reading) the rantings of a caffeined up, overly sleepy, whirring brain... it's now officially The Threes, & sleep is nowhere in sight... oh well... could YOU sleep with all this on your mind???

Tubing was....

...not as bad as it was the last time I went... (although it would be nearly impossible to be that bad)... I only got one comment from a stranger regarding my level of white-ocity, and I didn't almost pass out from sunstroke this time.

It was about as hot as The Bad Place, and there were a MILLION people there. Thank you, JR, for warning me about the "Tube Chute"... If he hadn't warned me, nobody would have... All James said was "Oh, it's nothing, just a gradual slope from one part to another"... LIAR. This is me, the person that doesn't like elevators because they fall down too quickly... IT WAS TERRIFYING and I scraped my foot on the wall. When I came out, James let go of me by accident, and I shot right into a group of random strangers... that might have been my favorite part... that, or the weeds that appeared to be magnetized to my butt...

Also, I slathered the SPF a hundred on about an inch thick, from head to toe, and it worked wonders. Except that evidently, I missed my knees. Now, my knees are both BRIGHT red, except for a single thumbprint directly in the center of my right knee. Very fashionable.

Anyway.... back to the positive side... it was NOT as bad as last time... I *almost* enjoyed sporting the oh-so-sexy "Leg-And-Arm-Fat-Squashed-Up-By-Hot-Rubber" look all day.

Whee.

We are going tubing today. I cannot wait. I'm sure this will be the best monthaversary yet.

He's gone.

My liddle brudder is no longer My TyTy... He is now Tyler Bryan, Private First Class, United States Marine Corps.

I think that's his title, anyway. This weekend, James & I went home for Ty's last weekend. Saturday, we took him & his girlfriend to San Antonio for some shopping & a sushi bar for lunch. Then, for dinner, mom made his favorite, Chicken & Dumplings, and since he couldn't decide whether he'd rather have pumpkin crisp or peach cobbler for dessert, she made both.

Last night, the whole family went to drop him off with his recruiting officer for Basic Training. Before dropping him off, we had dinner at Morton's Steakhouse. We all had some form of steak, and we all shared pretty much everything. We had Caesar salad, French bread, sauteed mushrooms, oysters on the half-shell, baked five onion soup, grilled asparagus, Lyonnaise potatoes, lump crab meat, steamed asparagus in Bearnaise sauce, hot -chocolate cake, and cheesecake (imported from a bakery in The Bronx). Everything was fantastic. YUM. Holy Moly, I'm still full from it. Anyway, Tyler's goal for the evening was to be in need of a wheelbarrow to get him to the hotel to meet with his recruiter, and I believe his mission was accomplished. We were all in need of said wheelbarrow.

I didn't think I'd be sad about him leaving, but I was pretty upset about it last night. I know a big part of it is that I know my mom will be sad without him around, and my parents having empty nest syndrome & all, but I think another part of it is that I'm scared they'll change him in a bad way. I'm definitely hoping they'll help him grow up a bit, but what if they change his personality or his sense of humor? I'm scared he won't be my brother anymore.

Alright... off to find the Prozac.

Another one for the poker players...

Dontcha love it when people insist on blabbing on & on when they obviously have no idea what they're talking about?

Last night, Dad, James, & I were at a poker game in South Austin, and I got a straight flush (YaY!!!). A little later on, this drunk, obnoxious, foul-mouth caught quads against me. He kept saying he should get something for having the high hand of the night. I knew he was incorrect, but Dad insisted on pointing it out to him. He kept going on & on, quite loudly, that we were dumb, and that 4 of a kind beats a straight flush. Of course, dad kept arguing, other people got in on it, & the more people disagreed w/ him, the louder he yelled about it. This one guy that looks & acts a lot like Hurley on Lost said, "dude... yah... three pair is a good hand too..." Anyway, he kept obsessing about it long after everyone else had written him off as an idiot, until his buddy bet him on it, & then proved him wrong on his phone.

What type of person feels the need to be so argumentative, when they obviously dont know?? Even if he was totally positive, why would he feel that strong a need to prove everyone else wrong? Maybe I am just super passive, or not that confident in my own knowledge, but if it were me, and EVERYONE was saying I was wrong, I would keep my mouth shut! I just don't understand this whole "human interaction" thing...

a butt-broadening experience

I just got home from my lil brudder's graduation. Holy. Moly. It started at 7:30, and we just got home. It is past 10. TWO AND A HALF HOURS of listening to every little kid's accomplishments. Of course, I babysat or went to school with the siblings of half the kids, but sheesh. Thankfully, there was a breeze, so the football stadium wasn't too unbearable.

PS: My brudder's Marines scholarship was the highest single scholarship amount. So there.

time to whine

Sorry guys... i hafta whine for a bit. If you're looking for something positive & uplifting, look elsewhere.

First of all, last night at the casino was disastrous. Since I know most of you aren't familiar with/ don't care about poker play-by-plays, I'll spare you all the disgusting details, but suffice it to say, I lost about $65 in one hand. Had I won, like I should have, I would have won over $150 in the one hand, which, in a $3-6 limit game like we were playing, is pretty rare. In fact, I was only 2 cards off from hitting the $38,000 "Bad Beat Jackpot". My pocket Queens hit a full house on the turn, and the idiot that beat me hit Quad 9s on the river, after calling 2 separate $24 bets with 9-6 offsuit. BLAAAAGH.

For those of you that have no clue what I'm talking about, the proper response is sympathy & indignation.

SECONDLY.

We just got back from Ruidoso Downs, the local racetrack. They have nowhere to sit inside. It is currently about 55 degrees, and super windy. I was FREEZING, and WINDBLOWN (so much for having rolled my hair this morning), and while we were watching the race, my horse kicked dirt all over me, and lost anyway. I stomped my foot, and we only stayed for 2 races.

Sorry guys, that is all.