Author: Big Mama

I felt like I had some loose ends to tie up after yesterday’s post. Or maybe it was just in my head. Either way, it seems like this is a good time to throw out a few odds and ends about various things.

Also, don’t miss the giveaway/review link at the end.

1. I don’t know why I chose thirty-three as an ideal age to get married on yesterday’s post. Maybe because I know so many single women who hit thirty and panic as if time is running out. And I’m trying to singlehandedly change that perception.

So, thirty-three might be the right age for some people and twenty-four might be the right age for someone else. I’m just a believer in having a little time to get to know who you are before you get married. And that may take some of us a little longer than it does others because we are slow learners. I say this as a slow learner who had to continue to learn a lot about myself and being unselfish long after I got married at twenty-six.

In fact, I am still learning.

And that is my soap box for today.

2. Hazel says you need to be careful about who you marry because you could wind up married to a man who’s about as useful as a pocket on the back of a shirt.

Also, Hazel is on her way out. But I bet she shows up again before flu/cold season is over because I have a tendency to get the bronchitis when my immunity is down.

3. Caroline’s shirt in the picture yesterday came from Zara. If you don’t have a Zara near you, then I am so sorry because you can’t buy their stuff online and they have some really, really cute things for grown-ups and kids.

4. I had an epiphany the other night. I should state that it was while I was in lying in bed after a heavy dose of prescription cough medicine.

People don’t play enough card games anymore. Or maybe it’s just the people I’m around that don’t play enough cards. Or Trivial Pursuit. Or whatever.

I want to bring the game night back. I dream of a future filled with holidays where we all sit around and play games.

And if there is wagering involved, so be it.

5. I’m giving away two copies of Choosing To See by Mary Beth Chapman. I read the entire book in a little under two days and it is just so, so good. Click on over to my review page and leave a comment to enter.

Have a lovely day.

Well, Hazel went to the doctor yesterday and received an official diagnosis of bronchitis. She was sent home with a prescription for all manner of steroids, antibiotics, inhalers and cough medicines. Which she promptly filled at the pharmacy even though she suspects all these fancy medications are a big scam that started when Medicare took over. In her day, all a person needed to stay healthy was to take a little exercise and drink an occasional glass of homemade wine to keep away the sugar diabetes.

Speaking of sugar, it has come to my attention that Halloween is just a little over two weeks away. The good news is Caroline has already picked out a butterfly costume, complete with silver sequin clip-on earrings because that’s what all the butterflies wear these days, and it’s just sitting in her closet waiting for the big day. I kind of hoped she’d go with my suggestion of being a black cat so I could make a black tutu and paint little whiskers on her face, but my sad little suggestion never had a chance against the sparkly clip-on earrings.

The bad news, at least the bad news for Gulley, is that Will has decided there is no other costume option for him this year than to be Big Toe. And for those of you unfamiliar with Big Toe, here he is:

Shockingly, there is no Big Toe costume available in the aisles at Target.

Big Toe is part of a line of stuffed animals called Ugly Dolls. I personally think they’re adorable. And Will feels the same way. He has at least ten of them, along with an Ugly Doll lunch box, journal, and assorted books. There is no greater show of affection than when Will informs you that he’d like for you to draw in his Ugly Doll journal or to go with you to the store to help you choose an Ugly Doll of your very own.

So, since some of you seem to be a little crafty (I mean that in the Martha Stewart sense, not the sneaky and backhanded sense) Gulley and I thought y’all might have some suggestions as to how one might go about making a Big Toe costume. Please, help us Obi-Wan Kenobi. You’re our only hope. I would so love for Will to be able to add “and she makes Big Toe costumes” right next to “and she builds floats” on my resume’.

As for Hazel?

She couldn’t care less about the whole thing. She thinks Halloween is just an excuse for children, who most likely already have way too much quit in them, to roam the neighborhoods like a bunch of ne’er-do-wells begging for candy. If she wanted to share her Luden’s cherry cough drops with the neighborhood, she’d move to one of them foreign countries and become a Communist.

I think it was Thursday afternoon when my non-specific seasonal malady began to include a cough. And, true to form, by Friday morning I sounded like an octogenarian named Hazel who’s had a three pack a day habit for the last sixty years.

I’ll tell you about Hazel. She’s from the old school and doesn’t cotton to newfangled treatments like multi-symptom cold medicines. Hazel likes to sit on her front porch and throw bricks at cars that drive by too fast. Hazel doesn’t think there’s a problem with America that can’t be fixed by taking your youngsters out to the woodshed to learn ’em some manners and human decency. Hazel thinks this whole world has been on the fast track to hell since the Roosevelt administration. Hazel sits around and pops Luden’s cherry cough drops like they’re candy.

(On a sidenote, I was typing in a few things from the weekend into the Note section on my phone because, yes, sometimes I actually have specific thoughts I want to share. And I typed in “Hazel” and began to type “Luden’s cherry cough drops” and it auto-checked it and changed it to “Ludendorff”. So it looked like I was planning to write about a woman named Hazel Ludendorff.)

(And so I am.)

Hazel Ludendorff is my new persona whenever I’m feeling under the weather. Because Hazel is a tough old bird and she can withstand anything even though she’s not one to miss an opportunity to enjoy her ill health. Hazel likes nothing more than to guilt a neighbor into delivering some homemade chicken noodle soup.

Anyway, in spite of Hazel’s attempts to hack up a lung, it was a good weekend around here.

On Friday night, we had some friends over for a little party for P’s birthday. I made a big batch of crawfish etouffee’ and a chocolate sheet cake at the birthday boy’s request. Although, let’s be honest, he’s more of a birthday man than a birthday boy at this point.

Then on Saturday, the Cheetah Girls had a big game against the Wildcats. And I’m happy to report they played the game of their lives. They were running and paying attention and kicking the ball ALL AT THE SAME TIME. It was a great game.

I left the soccer fields feeling joyously optimistic, which is so unlike Hazel, and convinced that the Aggies were going to soundly defeat the Arkansas Razorbacks. I believed. I BELIEVED. And then I spent the next four hours watching my hopes and dreams get smashed to bits by an offense that didn’t seem to realize the object of the game is to get the ball in the endzone.

As soon as the game was over, Caroline and I headed down to the ranch to meet up with P and spend the night. It was a quick trip, but I was glad we did it, if for no other reason than the sunset on the way down there was incredible. Just that perfect shade of orange and deep purplish-blue with a little sliver of a moon coming up.

And then we drove back home on Sunday afternoon. I crawled into bed and slept for about four hours while P ran interference to make sure Caroline didn’t wake me up to ask me what color I thought God should have made the sky if it wasn’t already blue. I was hoping to leave Hazel Ludendorff behind by the time I woke up. But no such luck.

Hazel is still with me. Which means I’ll most likely be spending Columbus Day the way Columbus and his crew wish they could have spent it back in 1492. At a med clinic being treated for scurvy.

Except I don’t think I have scurvy.

But I might have a touch of the bronchitis. Or maybe it’s just Hazel’s rheumatism acting up again.

Thanks so much for all the birthday wishes for P yesterday. Y’all are the best.

And, most of all, he got what I know he always dreamed of for his fortieth birthday. A wife who doesn’t feel well who stayed in her pajamas all day while occasionally hacking up a lung.

Oh yes. It’s all romance, all the time around here.

Here are just a few quick things before I take a hit of some cough medicine and sign off the internet:

1. Several of you emailed me about the obnoxiously loud Sun Chips bags being taken off the market. I’d seen the news when it first broke on Tuesday and rejoiced loudly. Not as loud as those bags, but loud enough.

I’ll recycle all the live long day but, dadgummit, I want to eat my chips in peace and quiet the way God and Mr. Frito originally intended.

2. While I was in Houston this past weekend, I saw these white pitchers in all different sizes and shapes at Marshalls. They were priced between $4.99 and $9.99 and would have been perfect to place on top of my kitchen cabinets. But, oh no, I decided it was too much trouble to have to buy those pitchers and lug them all the way back home to San Antonio.

I could kick myself.

I planned to see if they had them at a Marshalls here in town, but insert unknown illness that has made me feel lethargic and achy for three days.

3. There is an all new chance to win a $100 gift card through my latest Kellogg’s giveaway. Just click here to enter.

4. Does anyone have any good (and simple) appetizer recipes they’d like to share? I’m in need of a few new food items to add to my Saturday afternoon football watching rotation.

5. I’ll be back tomorrow with Fashion Friday. I’ll discuss what to wear with leggings among other fascinating topics.