Author: Big Mama

  • I’m powerless

    I’m going to have to make this brief. Not because I don’t have much to say. On the contrary, I have volumes and volumes of things I’d love to share.

    But the short version is that we’ve spent the last four days at the beach and got home yesterday afternoon and I have misplaced the power cord for my computer. It’s tragic really.

    The worst part is I can’t guarantee that I didn’t accidentally throw it away in the midst of my pre-vacation cleaning frenzy. In fact, P believes there is a better than 82% chance of that scenario.

    I brought my laptop to the beach, but never ended up actually using it because they didn’t have wireless access at the beach house and I couldn’t bring myself to plug into the router like some sort of twentieth century savage. So I can’t even remember if I had my power cord there or not.

    And then I let Caroline watch Barbie: The Princess and The Pauper on the computer on the way home and, thus, I have about three seconds of power left.

    IT’S ALL BARBIE’S FAULT.

    So after I do the whole first day of school drop off thing, I’m headed to the Apple store to buy a new power cord to replace the one I may or may not have thrown in the trash.

    And I’m trying not to think of all the other things I could spend that money on.

    Like perhaps some herbal supplements that help with memory loss.

  • It’s like a long weekend or something

    Well, if you count today then we officially have two days of summer left at our house. And then we have the weekend. And then we have the first day of second grade.

    On the one hand, I’m going to miss sleeping in until 9:30 a.m. and watching a little Phineas and Ferb to start the day.

    But, on the other hand, I’m kind of ready to be back in some sort of routine.

    I know.

    It’s like I’ve gone crazy from the heat.

    Anyway, I want to soak up the next few days. I want to sleep late. I want to go to the pool and wonder how the snack bar manages to run out of bread. I want to hug my girl several million times before I send her off to the dog eat dog world of second grade.

    So I’m taking the next few days off.

    Although, technically, that means I shouldn’t have posted anything today. But then five people and my dad might have been worried that something was wrong and emailed me to see why I didn’t post something.

    And that’s why I just wrote this overly long explanation.

    Just try to remember that my OCD is part of my charm.

    I’ll see you on Monday.

  • The injury list includes my pride

    I just fell over the dog.

    I don’t know why I feel compelled to let you know that, but it just happened and it’s the most significant thing that’s going on in my life. Mainly because I landed on my wrist and now I’m typing funny.

    I’d just tucked Caroline into bed when I heard P knocking on the back door. He had gone outside to test the new headlights he installed on his Polaris and I’d accidentally locked him out.

    Sidenote: He told me about ten minutes earlier that the only thing he didn’t understand was why ATV manufacturers don’t install better factory headlights on their vehicles. That makes two of us. It’s an issue that’s caused me to lose sleep for years.

    Anyway, I’d locked him out because he has trained me to immediately lock the doors as soon as I close them and I hurried to let him back in the house. Then just as I was stepping over Scout, who never feels that his presence in the center of a doorway is an inconvenience, he decided to stand up and I fell flat on the floor into a position reminiscent of the way all the breakdancers end their solos in Breakin’ 2: Electric Boogaloo.

    I looked up in time to see P watching the whole thing through the glass back door with a look of pity and awe on his face. Welcome to thirteen years of marriage.

    The irony is that Gulley and I took the kids rollerskating on Friday because someone got new white skates with pink wheels and pink pom-poms for her birthday and needed to try them out.

    No, it wasn’t me.

    I WISH.

    It was the other birthday girl.

    Gulley and I were stuck with the exact same beige skates with orange wheels that have been available for rental since 1976. And the entire experience brought Gulley back to a dark place in her childhood when she got sneaker skates for Christmas instead of white ones with pom-poms.

    My long forgotten point is that if you’d told me I was going to fall and injure myself at some point in the week, I would have placed my bet on a rollerskating injury. But, oh no, that would have been way to glamorous. Instead, I tripped over the dog.

    However, Caroline got a little too excited at the roller rink when she heard Party in the USA come on and, in her rush to get out on the floor, had an unfortunate encounter with a foosball table that caused her to fall right on her behind.

    And she insisted she needed a bag of ice to make it feel better.

    See? An injury that requires you to sit on a ziploc filled with ice has some flair.

    Tripping over your dog just makes people, who may or may not be your husband, laugh at you through the back door.

    He’s lucky I let him in.

  • They don’t mention this in the parenting books

    You’ll probably be glad to know that today isn’t any kind of celebration for my family because, seriously, how much more IT’S MY CHILD’S BIRTHDAY, IT’S MY BIRTHDAY, IT’S MY ANNIVERSARY can you stand? This happens every August and I start to feel like it’s all me, me, me and then I remember that technically this is my blog and it stands to reason that it’s about my life and all the major events of my life are crammed into a two week span in August. Had I known that I’d have a blog one day I might have spaced them out a little better. Nevertheless, all the celebrations are over until it’s time for our family’s big Arbor Day blowout.

    Yesterday Caroline and I went shopping for back-to-school shoes. I’ll have to tell you about it in more detail some other time, but we canvassed the entire San Antonio area looking for a pair of flats to fit her narrow little foot and by the time we arrived home we were exhausted and hot to the point of melting.

    Caroline said, “Mama, you know what I really need? Some cucumbers to put over my eyes. I really need to relax.”

    And so.

    Help me.

    I think I’m raising Zsa Zsa Gabor.

    ________________________________________________________________

    My second post is up as part of the Kellogg’s sweepstakes. Don’t forget to click over to my latestKellogg’s page for a chance to win $100 gift card.

  • Fashion Friday: Edition I say it’s my birthday

    Actually, today is not my birthday. It’s tomorrow.

    And I’m going to be 39.

    Which means I have plans to spend this weekend bathing in Oil of Olay, researching the cost of Botox and trying to contact Demi Moore to find out where the Fountain of Youth is located. Even though I’m pretty sure the answer involves several highly-skilled plastic surgeons.

    I may also eat some chocolate cake.

    And do a little shopping.

    Here are a few things I’ve found online this week that might be worth spending some birthday money on. Oh, and I’m not uploading pictures of anything today. I’ll blame the heat. And the laziness.

    1. Everyday Chocolate Chiffon Top

    This top is the perfect top for a Texas fall. It has an autumn look to it and would look great paired with jeans, yet it’s short-sleeved and appears to be fairly lightweight.

    2. Class Dismissed Jacket

    I got all caught up on The Rachel Zoe Project this week and I noticed that she is often wearing jackets like this with a longer top underneath. It’s totally major.

    I think you could wear this jacket in either color and shut it down.

    Also, does anyone have any thoughts on Taylor? How did that happen?

    3. On The Go Grey Watch

    So I never bought a white watch this summer. I don’t really know why, but I think it had something to do with being hot and not wanting to add one additional layer of anything on my person. Yet I still adore these watches.

    I’d been debating what color might be good for the fall and considered orange for a brief moment before I realized that it’s sacrilege for me to wear orange during college football season. But this grey? IS PERFECT.

    I’m totally getting one.

    4. One Shoulder Jade Dress

    It’s hard to tell from the picture, but I’m guessing this would be too short for me to actually wear as a dress. It may also be a little too much for a lifestyle that involves skipping PTO meetings and going to HEB to grocery shop.

    However, I think it could be great over a pair of jeans or leggings. Very dramatic and I adore the green. Picture it with some great gold cuff bracelets and hoop earrings.

    5. Splendid Lace Tank

    I am on the hunt for a gorgeous lace top. I totally fell in love with this Beyond Vintage top in the spring and hoped and prayed that it would go on sale. Alas, it never did and my love for it is unrequited. It makes me so sad because ADORE.

    However, this lace tank is the perfect piece to wear by itself or to layer under jackets when the weather cools off. It could be dressed up with a blazer (that word sounds so dated and makes me think of elbow patches and a pipe) or a great casual jacket.

    6. Apple Orchard Sweatshirt

    I love things that I can just throw on with a pair of jeans and walk out the door feeling semi-cute. This fits in that category.

    7. Rocket Dog Rideon Boots

    Last year I fell in love with a pair of lace-up boots from Anthropologie. They don’t have them anymore, but they kind of looked like these except much cuter.

    And even thought the Rocket Dog boots are quite as cute and lack the ruffle detail, they are still pretty cool. Plus, they’re $200 less which makes them a winner.

    8. Naughty Monkey Detective Boots

    Speaking of great boots, I seriously love these. And it’s just a bonus that I could walk around the house asking, “Where are my naughty monkeys?”

    9. Chambray Shirtdress

    This is another dress I love because it is so versatile. You could wear it with leggings or with a great belt or just on its own. The beauty is in its simplicity.

    10. Green beaded Hoop Earrings

    These earrings would be perfect with so many outfits. I love the green paired with the gold. Think how cute they’d be with the one-shouldered jade dress.

    So that’s it for today.

    Hope y’all have a great Friday.

    For more fashion visit Jo-Lynne at Musings of a Housewife.

  • It’s hot and we ate some steak

    It officially hit 100 degrees here yesterday. Of course I didn’t need a thermometer to tell me how hot it is because, while sitting by the pool a few days ago, I have never been more certain that I might spontaneously combust. My skin felt like it was on fire. Not even my hat that’s the circumference of a large Domino’s pizza provided any relief.

    And the good news is the weatherman just reported that there is no relief in sight. It’s just going to be hot with more hot for the foreseeable future. We’ve officially reached the point where the bloom is off the summer rose. I knew it was coming a few weeks ago when we ordered chicken fingers at the pool and the teenage employee paused with her pencil poised over the order pad, looked up at me and said, “Yeah. We don’t really want to have to make chicken fingers right now. They’re hard.”

    Or a few days ago when Caroline ordered a grilled chicken salad and, after they delivered it to her, announced “Oh. We’re totally out of salad dressing. Sorry.”

    How far we’ve fallen from the month of June when the pool was a happy oasis where the teenagers were happy to serve up all manner of chalupas and popcorn shrimp. Actually, happy might be a stretch, but they did it anyway because summer was their oyster. But now it’s August and it’s dreadfully hot and summer has become more like a rotten oyster that someone stole the pearl out of and left in the sun too long.

    Needless to say, I don’t think we’re going to the pool today.

    But last night we drove out to Waring with Gulley and her kids to meet our college roommate, Meredith, and her family for Steak Nite at the Waring General Store. We had so much fun.

    We’d never been to Steak Nite before, but I have to say I’m a fan. You drive out to the middle of nowhere, pay $20 per adult for a ribeye, mashed potatoes, salad, rolls, cupcakes bigger than your head, and drinks. Oh, and that also includes these amazing gorditas and quesadillas that they make right in front of you. I’ll dream about them tonight.

    And kids eat hot dogs for free. Hot dogs that come wrapped in a tortilla, which they thought might be the greatest invention of their lives with the exception of Doodlejump on the iPhone.

    Then you take your plate of food, find a picnic table and listen to a live band play some Texas Country music while the kids run around like banshees. If it had been twenty degrees cooler I might have never left, but instead we arrived home around 10:30 and I took my second shower of the day.

    There may have been some dancing on the tables after the crowd left.

    Best of all, we had the chance to laugh and catch up with old friends.

    Seriously, if you find yourself in Waring, Texas on a Wednesday (I don’t know why anyone would just happen to be in Waring. It’s the kind of remote location that takes some effort.) then you really need to go to Steak Nite. I definitely plan on going back.

    Sometime around October.