Author: Big Mama

  • The glass case of emotion

    Well. So this pretty much sums up my demeanor on Saturday afternoon as I watched the Aggies play LSU.

    It was a low point.

    The great irony is I felt good about the game before it started. I wasn’t worried about LSU. Which, in hindsight, feels pretty stupid because LES MILES. It makes total sense that if anyone has truly figured out how to stop Johnny Manziel, it’s him. He’s some sort of weird genius with a side of some Louisiana voodoo mixed in.

    And it’s safe to say that I will never wear that ’94 Aggie football sweatshirt again. I put that thing on, enormous sleeves and all, and wore it through the first quarter until I decided it was clearly contributing to our horrible performance and changed into a sensible fleece for the second quarter. Sadly, this did little to help the Aggies. It was too late for us.

    I think it’s also obvious that we need to never wear those gray uniforms again. Our colors are blush and bashful. Oh wait. That’s wrong. Our colors are maroon and white. Thus, we need to wear uniforms that are either maroon or white.

    And so that’s that.

    On the upside, Gulley and I were at Honey and Big’s house in Bryan watching the game. Uncle Johnny and Aunt Diane came over to watch it with us and we all agreed we felt optimistic about the Aggies chances. And once it became apparent that we’d been delusional, we were able to relax and eat all manner of chips and dips and tell stories and laugh. So even though the game was a low, the game-watching experience was a high.

    And so I’ve come to a point in the college football season where my grief over what could have been eases into acceptance for the reality. It could be worse, I could be a Florida Gators fan. My word. They have fallen on some hard times in Gator nation.

    Speaking of hard times, we left for Bryan on Friday evening. The plan was for Caroline and I to pick up Gulley and her boys in Gruene around 6:15 because they were visiting some cousins there. But what I didn’t count on was the pouring rain and the traffic and the fact that people in San Antonio don’t like to drive over three miles an hour when the roads are wet. So what is normally a thirty minute drive took an hour and a half. An hour and a half where Caroline began to complain she felt nauseated.

    By the time we got to Gulley and the boys I was a little frazzled. And by a little I mean that I needed to be medicated. But we’d come too far to turn back. Plus I knew if we could just power through and get to Honey and Big’s house it would be totally worth it once we slept in late and woke up to Shipley’s donuts on Saturday.

    Around San Marcos, Caroline decided the problem was she was hungry and wanted to drive through Arby’s to pick up a roast beef sandwich and some fries. So that’s what we did. And everything was fine until Will decided the smell of Arby’s was making him feel carsick and began to complain of nausea.

    Then in true Will form, he began to throw up between San Marcos and Bastrop which is a stretch of road that could compete with the Sahara desert for desolate. Fortunately, Gulley has become a master of holding a plastic grocery sack while Will throws up and so we powered down Highway 21 to the delicate sound of Will retching into an HEB bag as the rain poured outside and I came one step closer to needing to check into a mental health facility.

    For those of you keeping score at home, yes, this now makes forty-six road trips where Will has thrown up. And, honestly, as someone who struggles with the carsickness I feel his pain. And the remarkable part is we all assume our positions. Gulley turns around and holds the bag, Jackson says, “Caroline, scoot over closer to me”, Caroline says, “It’s okay, Will”, and I whisper the serenity prayer to myself while declaring, “We’re almost to a gas station. Just hold on. We’re almost there.”

    By the time we arrived at Honey and Big’s we were a carload of people in the throes of post-traumatic stress syndrome. We hit the front door and Will announced, “I’ve never barfed that amount of barf in my whole life.” Which was something we all intuitively knew based on the amount of HEB bags used. But about thirty minutes later everyone was showered and in pjs and Gulley and I had consumed a couple of glasses of wine for purely medicinal purpose and life seemed worth living again.

    And I was right. Saturday morning as we all sat around the kitchen table with donuts and kolaches, the terrible events of Friday were but a distant memory.

    Then the game.

    I believe I’ve covered that part.

    But here’s the thing. There are people and places that take the sting out of even big disappointments and understand exactly what you mean when you declare a sweatshirt to be bad mojo. And those are the best places of all.

    Those are the places worth driving through wind and rain and throw up to arrive at your destination.

  • Fashion Friday: Edition wintry precip on the way

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    I know.

    I have a fancy new Fashion Friday button that Edie made me. I feel very professional.

    The catalyst for this came when I was at Allume talking to a few other bloggers and Ruth asked about my editorial calendar. Apparently this is something some people use to plan their blog posts days, and even weeks, in advance. And here I assumed everyone just sat down on their couch around 10 p.m. every night and just wrote whatever came to mind.

    So while an editorial calendar is clearly out of my reach, I felt like I could add a button to Fashion Friday. As long as someone else made it for me because I can’t even remember that I have a gmail address I’m supposed to check.

    Anyway, as I write this it is 85 degrees outside, but there’s an alleged winter storm on the way that’s supposed to arrive in the wee hours of Friday morning and drop temps down into the 30’s. There’s even talk of wintry precip. And you know it’s serious when the weather people leave the “itation” off the “precip”.

    Personally, I’ll believe it when I see it. But I will be thankful for any temperature drop that means I don’t feel like maybe I should be wearing shorts.

    Now for the clothes and such.

    1. clutch oversized shawl cardigan

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    I love the length of this. It’s one of those long cardigan things that you can wear over a pair of leggings and know that your bottom area will be covered. It also looks really cute over a dress per the picture above.

    2. gap suede booties

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    Gap has done something jolly with their booties. I really like these and there are also cute lace up version or biker boot versions. Some of the sizes are sold out online, but I bet you can find them in stores if need be.

    But right now online, you can get 40% off any full priced purchase with the code GAPEARLY or 50% off with a Gap card when you use the code BFCARD. They’re practically giving stuff away.

    3. clydeback hooded cardigan

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    ‘Tis the season for an abundance of sweaters.

    4. kaleidoscope fringe sweater

    I recently found this boutique online and there are so many great things to choose from. But I decided this sweater was really calling out to me.

    5. leopard chambray tunic

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    I wouldn’t wear this as a dress, but I do think it would look really great with leggings and boots. Love that it has that subtle leopard print detail.

    6. ellesmere tunic

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    I’m about to tell you a sad story. Prepare yourself.

    I tried this on in black a few weeks ago at Anthropologie. I grabbed it off the rack in the sale room in the back and didn’t have a lot of hope that it would actually look good. But then I tried it on and loved the length and the way the sleeves fit and that it was as soft as a pajama top. However, I couldn’t find the sale price so I took it up to the cash register and that’s when I learned there was no sale price because it accidentally got placed in the sale room and wasn’t actually on sale.

    Why is my life so hard?

    And so I handed it back to the salesgirl and told her I wasn’t paying full price. But now I keep thinking about it and I have some lingering regrets.

    The end.

    7. keep me v-neck burnout tee

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    Now this. I know it looks like an old t-shirt. And I know I’ve shown it before. But I bought this and cannot express how much I love it. It is so soft and there is something about the way it’s cut that makes it super flattering. I wore it with skinny jeans and boots on Saturday night and some friends came over for dinner and one of them was wearing the exact shirt but in a different color. It’s just that great.

    And there are more colors to choose from on the Free People site but they’re not on sale.

    8. toms nepal boots

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    These.

    I need a replacement for my almost six-year-old Uggs and this is going to be it. They are so cute, so comfortable and come in an abundance of color choices. I tried them on the other day and fell head over heels in love.

    9. old navy pop color crew neck sweater

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    For those of us who may want to channel our inner Laverne DeFazio.

    And if you don’t they also make some that say “Joy” or “Peace” or other things.

    10. gapfit tunic hoodie

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    I saw this in Gap the other day and really liked it. It’s longer in person than it looks on the model and is the perfect thing to throw on with leggings or your yoga pants. You could even wear it to actually work out if you’re into that kind of thing.

    And that’s it for today.

    Have a good Friday.

    If you need me, I’ll be watching the Aggies beat the hell out of LSU. While wearing this.

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    Hopefully those enormous sleeves won’t end up in some type of dip.

  • Five things you might find interesting

    Listen. Between family pictures and the faux cinnamon smell at Michael’s and getting ready for Thanksgiving break, it’s been a busy week. And I think I’ve used most of my words. For now.

    So here are five things I thought you might be interested in:

    1. Examining Truth and Twitter by Samantha Steele Ponder

    Sam Ponder is a sports broadcaster for ESPN. And I absolutely loved this post she wrote about social media. I was already a fan, but now I’m an even bigger one.

    2. How to host Thanksgiving and Enjoy it by Edie at Life in Grace

    I would like to go live at Edie’s house for about two weeks. It would be like fantasy camp for people who enjoy delicious food and beautiful spaces.

    I’m not hosting Thanksgiving this year, but I know many of you are and thought you might find some of her tips helpful.

    3. handknit stockings from Sundance

    I just saw these in the catalog and thought they were so darling. I feel like they’re a little reminiscent of Little House on the Prairie. Remember the Christmas Laura got that doll with the porcelain face? Good times.

    4. A Scandal-ous Update by Sophie on Pioneer Woman

    I believe I have established that I am slightly obsessed with Olivia Pope. And even though Sophie and I have discussed most of our thoughts via text and telephone, I still loved reading her post on Scandal.

    5. Little Black Sheep: A Memoir by Ashley Cleveland

    This book. I’d known for some time that I wanted to read it and then I finally ordered it because about six different people had told me how much they liked it. And it did not disappoint. I’m a sucker for a good memoir and this one is a beautiful story of God’s never-failing love and redemption. It’s hard to go wrong with a book written by an award-winning songwriter. She just uses her words like I would like to when I grow up.

    And there you have it.

    See you tomorrow for Fashion Friday.

  • Smile for the camera

    For the last week I’ve been trying to get us ready for something we had scheduled yesterday that we haven’t done in almost six years.

    And now I remember why.

    Family pictures.

    Let’s all have a moment of silence.

    I mean, sure, we try to take a family picture in front of the tree on Christmas Eve as we’re all rushing out the door to church. And this past Easter we had a little photo session in the front yard that brought feelings and emotions out in me that made me extra thankful that Jesus died for my sins.

    But I’m talking about real pictures. Taken by someone using something other than an iPhone camera.

    And so I’ve spent the last week trying to coordinate outfits that work well together but don’t look too matchy-matchy. It was also important that they looked like something each of us would actually wear in real life. Because even though Caroline promised me she’d wear whatever I asked her to without complaining (See above Easter reference for when she learned that lesson.) I wanted it to be an accurate reflection of her style. And her current style isn’t so much Boden as it is Academy. However, I felt like a family picture deserved more than Nike running shorts and a stretchy sport headband from HEB.

    P is easy. Plaid shirt, jeans, and boots. It’s been his “dress-up” uniform for the last thirty years and it works. Yes, it may be boring, but I promise that pictures of him from high school have stood the test of time much more than pictures of me from high school. When you fancy yourself a trendy dresser, you’re bound to have some regrets.

    (I’m looking at you hot pink plaid Esprit pants worn with yellow and pink paisley shirt.)

    I kept looking for the right thing for Caroline and had finally decided on a navy striped shirt with a navy cardigan from Gap that we bought last year. It seemed like the best option and I hadn’t seen anything else that really worked. But then I ran in Gap on Monday and found a cream tunic sweater that I felt would be perfect with her jeans and boots and also work with what P and I would have on.

    I bought the sweater but I knew this was going to require a try-on session to make sure it looked good. And so when I picked her up from school and she asked if we could run by Starbuck for a frappuccino, I sensed the time was right to strike a deal. “Sure! But as soon as we get home, I need you to try on a couple of outfits for me.”

    She’s powerless to resist the call of the Starbucks.

    When we arrived home, I pulled the cream sweater out of the Gap bag and said, “Here you go! Try this on with your skinny jeans and boots.”

    She crinkled her nose and asked, “Is that a turtleneck?”

    “No. It’s a cowl neck.”

    “Really? Because it looks like a turtleneck.”

    “Well. It’s not. It’s a cowl neck. It’s a loose version that just drapes around your neck. Just go put it on.”

    And so she did. Except she didn’t quite get the concept of a cowl neck and had pulled all that extra fabric down around her shoulders like a shrug and came out of her room complaining, “I can barely move in this thing. I can’t even lift my arms.”

    This is what happens when you spend your whole life in assorted t-shirts from sporting goods stores.

    I pulled the cowl neck off her shoulders and draped it around her neck the way God and the Gap intended. And she deemed it acceptable. I was feeling so optimistic that I declared, “That might even be cute to wear on Christmas!”

    To which she replied, “Why would I want to wear a turtleneck at Christmas?”

    Kids are precious.

    Yesterday was the actual day and so if Easter and Christmas have taught me anything (I mean other than that Jesus loves me and came to save the world) it’s that I better have my hair and makeup finished hours ahead of time because my job on picture day is essentially to be like O’Brien on Downton Abbey. Except I’m not in as jolly of a mood.

    So I showered and fixed my hair and did my makeup around noon. And then P stopped by the house to eat a quick bite for lunch and asked, “Now why are we getting family pictures made?”

    “Because we haven’t done them since Caroline was four.”

    “Well, does that matter? It’s not like we look at the ones we already have.”

    Husbands are precious.

    I reminded him that we needed to be ready to leave the house at 3:30. Then I went to pick Caroline up from school and began the process of rescuing her hair from its HEB sport headband and ponytail. I put on some lipgloss and we were ready to go and out the door at 3:30. It’s our first miracle of the holiday season.

    And in the car I told them something that I may regret, but right now I mean it with all my heart. I said, “Just smile and do whatever we need to do to get some good pictures and we won’t have to do family pictures again until Caroline’s wedding day.”

    Which, hopefully, is at least fifteen years away.

    And even then might be too soon.

  • Because I like to show the turkey a little love

    Before I even begin I feel like we all need to have a moment of silence because yesterday the Oxford Dictionary officially added “selfie” as a word.

    Welcome to our future, America. A world where we’re in debt to China beyond all reason but it’s all good as long as we document ourselves pulling through the Sonic drive-through to get a Route 44 Diet Coke.

    Personally, I would have chosen “champipple” to become a real word. The champagne cocktail favored by Fred Sanford. But, like most things, no one asked for my opinion.

    And while I’m giving opinions no one has asked for, here’s another one. Dear Stores of America, you need to settle down about Christmas. It’s going to happen. December 25th comes every year and Americans will open their wallets eventually to buy all manner of Christmas gifts. But can we please have a minute to just enjoy the holiday of the turkey?

    I felt it the day after Halloween when our neighborhood shopping center immediately had two giant Christmas trees flanking the entrance and green and red garland everywhere. And I knew it when Gulley ran into Santa Claus at HEB on November 9th and had to tell him to go back to the North Pole. But I really noticed it yesterday when I was out running errands.

    My first stop was Target. And, granted, I brought it upon myself since I willingly walked to the back of the store to look at all their Christmas decorations. In my defense, it was only because I know they’ll be out of all the good stuff by Black Friday and I wanted to make sure there wasn’t anything I couldn’t live without.

    (There wasn’t. Although they did have some really cute stockings.)

    And then I ran in several other stores that were all playing Christmas music. Which, fine. I enjoy the Christmas music but it was 92 degrees here yesterday and so I kind of felt like Frank Sinatra was mocking me as he sang “Let it Snow”.

    But the killer was when I ran in Michael’s to look for some paint for a project Caroline is working on. Here’s what I need to know. Who decided that the overwhelming scent of fake cinnamon is the official fragrance of Christmas? I became so carried away with the sheer amount of decorations and disoriented from my faux cinnamon smell induced headache that I almost put two light up reindeer with moving heads in my cart before I came to my senses and remembered that P and Caroline would probably just use them for target practice.

    I ended up leaving without buying anything because I was in desperate need of fresh air. And that’s when I walked over to Whole Foods and saw a whole selection of live Christmas trees for sale. Did I mention it was 92 degrees yesterday? All those things are going to be good for by mid-December is firewood.

    And even poor Santa was already sitting in his Santa house. In a red velvet suit. No one wants to sit on Santa’s lap when he stinks from sweating in his Santa suit all day.

    And here’s the thing. I love Christmas. That chunk of time between Thanksgiving and Christmas brings me some of my happiest memories every year. But it’s also nice to take a deep breath that doesn’t smell of manufactured cinnamon and think about turkey and dressing and cranberries and broccoli rice casserole and all the things we have to be thankful for without being interrupted by a giant light-up Santa that says “Ho, ho, ho”.

    It’s a marathon, Santa Claus. Not a sprint.

    And I’ll be ready for you. A week from Friday.

  • Rats and outer space and neglected email

    You know what warms a mother’s heart?

    When her ten-year-old daughter, all showered and sweet-smelling in her pajamas, announces “I’m going to run outside and check the rat traps before you tuck me in!”

    Yes. This is what my life has become.

    P came home on Thursday and Caroline couldn’t wait to tell him about the wildlife we encountered living outside my bathroom window. He immediately pulled out his arsenal of various rodent traps (Sadly, this isn’t our first rat rodeo.) and the two of them got to work concocting irresistible offerings with which to entice a rat and/or mouse. Basically their strategy was some Laffy Taffy left over from Halloween stuck on a glue trap.

    The next day Caroline couldn’t wait to see if their traps worked. I’m sad to report she showed an enthusiasm usually reserved for Christmas morning.

    But, alas, we are obviously dealing with the Yogi Bear of the rat family. By which I mean that he is smarter than the average rat. Because he has stayed away from our Laffy Taffy and our peanut butter and even some cheese. He is like John Travolta, staying alive.

    Really the hunt for the rat was the most exciting part of our weekend. And that was fine with me. I was thrilled to have a weekend that involved no soccer or any other obligations. The Aggies even had the weekend off so I was able to watch college football like a normal person who doesn’t get overly emotionally invested.

    On Friday night P was at the ranch and Caroline and I stayed at Gulley’s house until early evening and then picked up dinner and headed home. We watched Monsters vs. Aliens and it was as exciting as it sounds.

    Then Saturday morning we slept in and spent most of the day in our pajamas. Caroline was fighting either allergies or a cold and wasn’t anywhere near her normal energy level. She built a fort in her playroom and one in the corner of the living room and was content to migrate from fort to fort as the day went on.

    Later that night we had some friends over for dinner. I cooked Pioneer Woman’s braised short ribs with mashed potatoes and Mix and Match Mama’s cinnamon roll cake for dessert. It was the perfect fall comfort food meal. The only problem was it was about eighty-five degrees outside.

    And that about sums it up.

    Except I did make an unfortunate discovery that I want to mention. Last night I was messing around on the computer and somehow stumbled across an old google email address that I created a long time ago but never check because it’s not an address I ever use. Well, apparently, if you subscribe to my blog by email, and have ever replied back, your reply has gone to that google email address that I never check.

    I can’t even tell you how sad this makes me because I try my best to respond when people email me and all of a sudden there were many sweet emails that I’ve never answered because I didn’t know they existed. I really shouldn’t be allowed to own a computer.

    So if you’ve emailed me and been thinking I was so rude because I never even bothered to answer, please know I’m not rude, just technologically incompetent. From here on out I’ll try to check both email addresses unless some computer wizard can tell me how to combine all that email into one account. Or better yet, can just do it for me.

    And finally, on a completely unrelated note, have any of you ever read C.S. Lewis’s space trilogy? It’s called Out of the Silent Planet (Space Trilogy)Chronicles of Narnia years ago.

    But you never hear anyone say, “You know what’s great? C.S. Lewis’s books about space.” Yet, it’s C.S. Lewis. How bad could it be? Anyway, I went ahead and ordered the first one but just figured someone out there has read them and might have some thoughts. Or at least some other suggestions for a good series of books to read aloud.

    In the meantime, I’ll just be here waiting to see if rats can resist the combination of Laffy Taffy with a side of peanut butter.