I just want you to know – before I get into a big long, possibly boring summary of our weekend – that I have a stomachache at the moment. Not because of some type of virus, but because I ate a big piece of chocolate sheet cake even when I knew I was still full from dinner.
Why did I do that?
In hindsight, I should have skipped dinner altogether and just eaten the chocolate cake because that’s all I really wanted in the first place. As evidenced by the fact I asked P if he’d like me to bake a chocolate sheet cake tonight since I still had a little bit of buttermilk left from the one I made last week and I hated for it to go to waste.
Yes. Because a pint of buttermilk costs upwards of .89 cents.
Justification, you are my friend.
It’s just about wanting to be a good wife and saving us the heartbreak and possible financial ruin that could come from throwing away perfectly good buttermilk.
Anyway, we had a great weekend here.
On Friday, P and I went to lunch with our friends Lisa, Todd, and Angie. They were in town from Nashville for the Women of Faith Conference and so we decided we needed to expose them to real Mexican food as opposed to the faux Mexican food that you sometimes find on the Riverwalk. We took them to a place we love called Patty’s Taco House, home of the mini-puff taco plate that will change your life. And my heart broke for Angie when she revealed she’d never eaten a flour tortilla with butter on it. I don’t understand how that’s possible.
(Says the girl who made a chocolate cake in the name of not wasting buttermilk.)
After lunch we raced to pick Caroline up from school because they had early dismissal last week and she got out at 1:00. There is really no need for you to know this but I’ve already typed it and my stomach hurts from the chocolate cake and so I’m just leaving it there.
P and Caroline packed up to head to the ranch for Friday and Saturday because it was the weekend of the biannual shoot-out that P hosts for a group of men at our church known as the Sportsmen. It’s basically two days of a bunch of guys bringing their guns and their kids to the ranch and shooting targets and fishing and other generally outdoorsy type things.
Which explains why P sent me this photo late Friday afternoon. Please do not look if you are squeamish and/or wrestling with any sort of snake phobia. Unfortunately, I fit into both of those categories but it was too late for me once I looked.
And I think it speaks to my personality that I eventually came around to the thought that it would make a gorgeous belt.
On Friday night, in addition to looking at photos of my baby girl holding a dead snake, I went to the Women of Faith conference. It was fun, but by the time I got home I had a headache so I took some Advil and went to bed. And didn’t wake up until 10:00 on Saturday morning.
I’m not going to lie, it was glorious.
I spent the rest of the day in my pajamas watching football. At one point I realized I hadn’t eaten anything all day but was too lazy to get out so I called and had a pizza delivered. So essentially I turned into a nineteen-year-old college boy on Saturday. But without the keg and in a home that smells significantly better than a fraternity house.
However, I did have a burst of productivity when it became apparent that the Longhorns were going to stink up the Cotton Bowl which led to me cleaning out my closet. But I’m going to tell you about that tomorrow because it’s really a post of its own.
(What I’m omitting is that it’s probably a really boring post of its own, but I have to take my blog content where I can desperately find it.)
Eventually I showered and put on a different pair of pajamas than the ones I’d been wearing all day because basic hygiene and all. And then I spent some time on Pinterest, contemplating whether or not a kitchen island countertop made of reclaimed wood is actually practical or just good in theory, while I waited on the Aggie game to start.
Finally, at 8:22 ESPNU finally switched from the already over and dead Vanderbilt vs. Florida game to the A&M vs. La Tech game and I was pleased to see the Aggies had already scored a touchdown in their first possession.
Of course I was sad that I missed it since ESPNU felt like everyone wanted to see the last minute and forty-four seconds of Vandy losing to Florida. But ESPN is on my bad list right now because they’ve also scheduled this weekend’s game against LSU for 11 a.m. Guess what time Caroline’s soccer game is? 10:50 a.m.
(Which means I’m going to have to record the game and resist the temptation to check the score even though that never works for me because I have a problem.)
Anyway, by the time the Aggies were up 27-0 at the end of the first quarter I was kind of lamenting that it was going to be such a boring blow-out of a game. And then La Tech decided to wake up and the Aggie defense decided to take a nap and I basically jumped up and down on the couch and hid my face behind decorative pillows and hyperventilated and passed out and threw things at the T.V. and furiously texted Gulley and Jen for the next four hours.
Because that’s the other thing. It was the LONGEST GAME EVER. That dang game didn’t end until right before 1 a.m. and by that point I had enough adrenaline coursing through my veins to throw a bus down a city block. I could’ve taken enough Ambien to kill a horse and I wouldn’t have slept.
But Johnny Manziel saved the day again. And the announcers even started talking about him being a possible Heisman candidate. Which, on one hand, great. But on the other hand, he’s just a freshman and we still have huge games in front of us and I don’t want him to get a big head and be like Smash Williams that time he started to believe that he was the only player the Dillon Panthers needed and created animosity among his teammates.
And then I remember that Smash Williams is a fictional character who played for a fictional team in a fictional town for a fictional coach.
Which makes me sad. Mainly because I loved his mama on that show so much.
Then on Sunday I put on my pressurized spacesuit and jumped from the edge of space.
Or maybe I just helped Caroline with her skeleton book report project, made tacos for dinner and ate too much chocolate cake.
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That. Game.
I don’t even have words for the amount of anxiety I experienced.
Love your blog, long-time reader! Just wanted to say I was at this game and it was incredible! My family and I are all LATECH alumni and as our “baby” just graduated, very close to this group of young men. I hated to lose but it was a great game and we have spent our day recovering! More physically than mentally-that might take a little longer! I have to admit I was nervous when A&M took the field, we were definitely out-sized and out-numbered. WHEN we got started, we played like these boys always do- with incredible heart and down to the last second! Your QB is amazing. Looking forward to watching him again next week when our “other” team comes to your house!!
Totally different subject but reading about you and Caroline reminds me so much of me and my girl! Just a heads-up, that relationship just gets better every year and it goes SO FAST. Enjoy every.single.minute!!
Now after living in California more than half my life I consider myself a Texafornian, but will NEVER lose my love for football! It was cinched for life the year that my friend’s daddy drove us from Ft. Worth to Wichita Falls in the snow for a high school play-off game. Saturday was AWFUL for my team, but win or lose I watched the entire game. Oh, by the way, I also saw you jump from the edge of space! Way to go, girl! What a weekend!
1) I have never had butter on a tortilla? Why?
2) That snake is exactly the resaon I live no where near Texas. OMG!
Oh, Monica, the same reason you butter your biscuit! I prefer a warm corn tortilla, but I like almost anything made with corn.
Yum buttered tortillas are amazing! Besides the people the thing I miss most about Texas is the Mexican food. Specifically brisket tacos. I do not miss the heat.
I put a flour tortilla in my cast iron skillet — no oil — heat up both sides then BUTTER lavishly and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar. But. Even better. Fry a flour tortilla in oil (even deep fry) take it out drain on paper towel. BUTTER lavishly (while hot) and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar. Better than cinnamon bread because it’s crispy, crunchly and OH SO GOOD!!!
Amen in that game, Sweethardt88! It was crazy at our house…NASCAR on one TV, LSU on another, and then this one. It was great!
Fictional or not, let’s not forget that Smash went to Texas A&M! LOL
The snake, OH MY!!! Never had a buttered tortilla, sounds amazing though. Smash Williams, oh how I miss that show!!
Butter on a warm, fresh tortilla-it’s what’s for breakfast! (Although Texas Sheet cake is a perfectly good breakfast too!) We’re getting ready to move out to the country in North Texas and I’m really trying not to think about possible snakes. In my book-if it doesn’t rattle, it’s a cobra.
Love Texas Sheet Cake…and wish I had some for breakfast but I am trying to give up sugar and eat more protein. I know…who thought this was a good idea?
Well, alrighty then. That picture just blew my theory that the only good snake is a dead snake.
I have never heard of Patty’s Taco House. I will definitely give it a try. Have you ever posted your recipe for your sheet cake?
Great post! I have never heard of butter on a tortilla, but living in Georgia, I have never had “real” Mexican food either. Butter on anything is yum, so I am sure it is great. And your statement about making a cake to save 89 cents was perfection. Hahaha! You really HAD to make the cake!
I’m gong to take a side trip off your Smash Williams comment and ask if you’ve seen the new show ‘Nashville’ with Tammy now a country music star? (I realize that Tammy is not her real name but I can’t seem to come up with that right now. It IS Mon. morning you know.)
Thank you for the Smash reference. Made my morning.
Did you know that Johnny Football also saves kittens? (Which is great and all, but for the love, Johnny, let’s not be running across Wellborn anymore, ok?)
I love how you reference real life to fictional characters we love to watch or read about. The Smash Williams comment was great. I do that in my head all the time and wonder if I’m crazy for comparing fictional characters to my life. Oh, and Go Gators! I’m from Gainesville.
In addition to not checking the score, you cannot check your Facebook. Because when you record a game and don’t want to know what the score is, SOMEBODY.ALWAYS.BLABS.ON.FACEBOOK!!!
You summed up exactly how I felt at 1am Sunday morning. Everyone else in my house was asleep, but I was too wound up–I just HAD to talk to somebody. My poor husband…
WHAT A GAME! we came out smelling like donkey butt. but our guys stepped it up and made a run at it! i’ve never been more proud to be a bulldog fan. i’ll be pulling for the aggies for the rest of the season (and coming from a girl whose dad was born and raised in austin, that’s hard.)
this is my take on the game.
http://www.happilyhamby.blogspot.com/2012/10/proud.html
Just FYI, you can freeze leftover buttermilk.
Best to measure it in the amount the recipe calls for and freeze it in that amount. But then again, you won’t get a second Texas sheet cake in a week if you freeze it.
I totally understand about Smash and his mama. I miss them so much. My husband wasn’t sure he would be able to watch Nashville last week. He said he wasn’t going to like her new husband. Then we had to discuss the fact that her new husband, old husband, and even her 2 characters aren’t real people.
The most mind-boggling part of this post to me is that there was a point that you realized you hadn’t eaten yet for the day. How do people do that??!! Food is never that far from my mind. That would be why you are skinny and I’m not
These late start Saturday night games are the reason I may or may not be dozing off during the sermon on Sunday morning.
How I loved Smash’s mama.
Buttered tortillas? We are coming to SAT next month and I will be seeking one of those out!
Does anyone know what kind of snake that is?
That is a rattlesnake! See the rattlers on the end of the ‘tail’
Ahem…Boomer Sooners!!! Thank you.
Gross, I just clicked on the snake photo for a close up. I can’t tell if there is blood on Caroline’s jeans or if the snake’s guts are hanging out. Either way, ew.
LSU killed us (Carolina) this weekend. I have no more to say about that. I’m still trying to get over it. Terrible, terrible.
the smash williams reference is classic! did you catch the new show Nashville? lookig forward to your thoughts about it.
I think it’s ingrained in us as mothers that we can’t be wasteful. So I’m affirming your need to not waste buttermilk.
And as for the snake? I hate, HATE snakes. But I’m so glad those men had guns when they ran across it!
i was catching up with you, reading away, when the doorbell rang and a cute boy with roses and candy is at the door. asking my baby to homecoming, in the proper Texan way.
so enjoy your grinning little girl with snake guts on her jeans. the next step is around the corner, and it’s coming fast!
think how much fun it will be, shopping for dance dresses that aren’t her style.
thanks for sharing your family adventures with all of us!
Sounds like your skills in Justification are up there with mine! If anyone needs to come up with good justification for anything– ANYTHING– I’m your girl. Speaking of, I think you’ve now found handy justification for just eating the dang cake first next time, right?: )
Aaaaahhhh! I would be freaked out by the snake but I’m laughing because here I sit in OK (all my family is in SA) and I know the kids with your C. My brother is married to their mom’s cousin. (Got that?) It’s all one big happy family!
Have I mentioned that we are now on Season 4 of Friday Night Lights? My youngest son, however, abandoned us when Smash went off to college. I might add that he went off to Texas A&M – whoop – but I was saddened that it wasn’t his first choice and he only walked on after an injury. But that’s neither her nor there. My youngest son pointed out on more than one occasion that Smash’s mother and I have similar parenting skills. I don’t quite remember her yelling as much as I do, but I think that the point he was making was that she tended to push college, and HELLO, we are one in the same.
To further discuss my love of this fictional series, I thought I was going to hate it once they switched over to East Dillon, but love all of the new characters. I’m obviously disappointed that Tim passed on college, and I swear that I married his character (minus the football success) some twenty years ago. Apparently, I like the fixer-uppers.
Anyway, some of the adjustments that the kids are facing remind me much of our youth when they used ping pong balls to determine which school we would attend. It was quite an adjustment for all.
My SIL flew my sister and I to Portland, OR to attend the WOF conference with her a few weeks ago and I was so impressed with all of the speakers! Angie was super cute and so stinkin funny… I’ve been reading her book about fear… please tell her that some random Aggie in Texas is so thankful for her courage and honesty in writing this book. I, for one, really needed it!!
And Todd looked pretty cute in a white tutu, ha.
If you add some honey to the buttered flour tortilla, it’s a little bit of heaven