Author: Big Mama

  • Joseph and his coat of cost-cutting prices

    This morning P let me sleep in a little and he got up with Caroline. I believe it was around 6:30 a.m., but it’s just too painful to think about.

    Around 8:30, Caroline came running in the room yelling, “WAKE UP, MAMA! WAKE UP! IT’S TIME FOR CHURCH! WAKE UP!”, which is such a relaxing way to start the day, especially when I realized I had about twenty minutes to get both of us dressed and hope that the deep wrinkle that appears in my forehead every night would have time to disappear before we walked through the church doors. (It didn’t)

    However, Caroline had already taken it upon herself to get dressed. This is what she had on.

    While I admire her attempt to mix patterns, I’m not sure this is really working for her. Although the unbrushed hair topped by a baseball cap is a nice touch.

    Here she is after she added a winter hat to fend off the 80 degree chill and I told her that as much as I loved what she had going on here, we were going to make a few changes.

    Needless to say, she was not happy with my decision. I wonder how many more times I’ll see this look over the years?

    Don’t answer that.

    She let me know that I had “RUINED” her day, but I had an ace up my sleeve in the form of a cute new outfit from CWDKids that she’s been dying to wear.

    So the four of us headed out to church. P, Caroline, me and my wrinkle.

    There will be no photos of the wrinkle.

    When I picked her up from Sunday School, they handed me what seemed to be a paper grocery bag and explained they had talked about Joseph’s coat of many colors.

    That’s Caroline in Joseph’s coat of many colors, which is so weird because I never realized they had an HEB.

    The irony is that I didn’t let her wear her original outfit to church because I was afraid she looked like a bag lady.

    If only I had known.

  • She also sang Delta Dawn for her fifth grade choir performance

    While I was at the rodeo with Gulley and her husband, Jon, a few weeks ago, they told me a story about when they were dating that I know I had never heard before because it brought me deep and abiding joy.

    One night, after they had been dating for a few months, they went out to dinner. On their way home “Oh Lord, It’s Hard to Be Humble” came on the radio. Gulley turned it up and sang every single word LOUD AND PROUD.

    When the song was over she looked up and realized Jon was just staring at her. She would learn later that it was at this tender moment he realized she was the girl for him. He said, “I’ve never known a girl that knows all the words to that song.”

    She said, “Well, you’ve never dated a girl who grew up with a goldfish named Mac Davis.”

  • Edition 19: Fashion Friday

    Okay, before I can get down to fashion business I just have to thank you all for your incredible comments from yesterday’s post. I cannot tell y’all how moved I was to read your emails and comments. There were some tears involved. Thank you for being so great and supportive.

    Yesterday I checked my WordPress dashboard (which I love to do because I yearn for knowledge) and someone found Big Mama by searching for “What would Tim Gunn wear to Disney World?”.

    I thought about it the rest of the day.

    What would Tim Gunn wear to Disney World?

    It’s like the WWJD of the fashion world.

    I honestly don’t know the answer but I think it’s a safe bet that it wouldn’t be a Mickey Mouse t-shirt and tube socks pulled up to his knees, which is an outfit favored by many who attend the Magic Kingdom or, really, any amusement park in America.

    My bet is he’d wear some nice slacks with a crisp button down with two buttons open at the top because hey! it’s Disney World and he’d be feeling loose and all devil may care.

    And now, the moment you’ve been waiting for all week, the top eight must have items for Spring and Summer.

    Oh, did you think there would be ten?

    Yeah. So did I. But I couldn’t come up with ten and I’m tired. To come up with ten I would have had to include bright metallics and gladiator sandals, and I fundamentally disagree with both of those trends. I’m boycotting them.

    Therefore I present the top eight must have items for Spring and Summer.

    1. The full skirt

    Skirts are your summertime friend. They are cooler than shorts and hide a multitude of eating too many Swiss Cake Rolls in the winter time sins. Plus, they make you look polished and put together without much effort. Everybody wins.

    Here are a few skirts I would love to add to my skirt collection.

    This one. Or this one in madras print. Or this one because y’all know I love Anthropologie with every fiber of my being.

    2. Bright colors

    Don’t be scared. I know that many of you, like me, lived through the neon years of the 80’s. One of my favorite outfits from high school was by well-known designer Santa Cruz and featured lime green linen pants and a neon pink and green striped shirt that I wore with the collar turned up. When I see the words Bright Colors, I think of that outfit.

    I choose to not remember that I wore it with jelly shoes.

    But we are living in kinder, gentler fashion times. Bright colors can be used in all kinds of different ways.

    Here’s a bright, tiered knit top that would look great with jeans. Or maybe a pink wrap dress. Or this divine purse that I adore and I would totally buy if it were only $300 cheaper.

    The point is you can have as much bright color or as little bright color as you’re comfortable wearing.

    3. Trouser jeans

    In theory, I love these trouser jeans in white for the summer.

    However, it might be smarter, in reality, to find a pair in dark denim.

    4. Feminine shirts

    This kind of goes along with the whole skirt thing. I love that fashion has returned to pretty, girly things and there is something about them that just seems perfect for Spring.

    I love this ruffled shirt. Or this one from Old Navy.

    5. Neutrals

    This seems to conflict with the bright colors, but really it’s just another option. When I think neutrals, I think shoes and handbags.

    Here’s a great purse, although I kind of think my Mema might have had this exact same bag when I was eight or nine. And I love these shoes.

    6. Global/Safari looks

    All you need to know about the Safari look is that you should head to Old Navy immediately. I’m not sure what happened, but I think some buyer for the store got overwhelmed with keeping up with spring trends and just said, “Oh what the heck, let’s go all safari.”

    Like this. And this. Or something like this, which isn’t safari, but apparently is global.

    I don’t really know what that means. Maybe it means it’s worldly and sophisticated. Much like me as I sit here in my flannel pjs eating Sour Patch Kids.

    7. Black and white

    This may seem obvious, but White House Black Market is a great place to shop for black and white pieces. What a clever marketing scheme.

    This is a great shirt. I love this dress. Oh, and this one too.

    8. Big, bold jewelry

    This is where you can tie in a trend to any outfit. Look for wooden chunky jewelry to get a global look. Or wear some bracelets or a necklace in a bright color. Look for some black and white pieces. Jewelry is your chance to make an outfit stand out.

    This is far and away my new favorite place to look at jewelry. It is all absolutely beautiful and I can’t choose a favorite. I also haven’t ordered anything because I can’t make a decision. I am very indecisive, especially when it comes to accessories.

    Of course, go look at this. And this. And this.

    At those prices you can buy all three. You’re actually saving money by purchasing more jewelry.

    I’m not sure that’s true, but it sounds really good in my mind.

    That’s all I’ve got for today. Maybe by next Friday I’ll come up with two more trends so y’all don’t feel cheated. I just wouldn’t want that to happen. I’d feel terrible.

    Hope you all have a happy Leap year day. (is that what this is called?)

    And if you have any thoughts as to what Tim Gunn would wear to Disney World or any questions about the trends, let me know in the comments.

  • On letting go

    Sometimes it’s hard for me to find the words to talk about what’s really going on. And really, it’s not that I don’t want to write about it or that I’m trying to keep it to myself, it’s just that it is harder to get out. It takes thought, which isn’t really true of posts that show pictures of Snoopy Sno-Cone Machines.

    A few days ago, I was cleaning out my desk drawer and found my Daytimer from last year. I opened it to the month of February and saw written on February 15th, “Meeting with Human Resources in Dallas”. Honestly, even though I know how it all turned out, seeing that date and those words made my stomach knot up in a little ball of anxiety. I had no idea the journey I was about to go on.

    That day will always signify the day things began to change because, even though everything was resolved, I didn’t walk away from that experience the same person I was before it. Something shifted. And while I didn’t really adore my career as a drug rep, it’s not the kind of job you just walk away from. It’s good money, a free car, great benefits. For me it was security wrapped in golden handcuffs.

    The next several months brought some big challenges. I became a big fan of picturing the worst case scenario and my mind just went crazy with fear. I had no idea, until we experienced some serious financial setbacks, how much security I found in what was in our savings account. However, by mid-December something clicked and I just let it go. I surrendered all my financial fears to God and truly began to trust Him and His provision. It was as if a hundred pound weight had been lifted.

    And guess what? He’s provided.

    But none of that is really the point. It’s just the background information.

    Just about the time I really began to trust God with our financial situation, I started to have a health issue. I’m not going to go into great detail because Google Ads will pick up on it and who knows what will end up being advertised. As if it could get worse than the current ads for stomach bloating and constipation. And now that I’ve written those out, those Google Ads will never go away. My Google Ad fate is sealed.

    Anyway, I started having an issue. Nothing serious, but not quite right either. I went to see a few different doctors and none of them really had any answers. Every test came back negative, but I knew something was going on.

    By January, what started as a minor thing became huge in my mind. I worried constantly. I felt like I had a black cloud over me. I knew I was starting to feel other symptoms that signaled something more serious. I made the terrible mistake of going to WebMD and looking up my symptoms to self-diagnose.

    Here’s a word of advice. Don’t go to WebMD to self-diagnose. You will always come up with a fatal option. It could be allergies or it could be HORRIBLE PLAGUE OF DEATH. Always. It’s like internet law.

    So, on top of the fears about my health, I began to have other irrational fears. There was one Sunday in particular when P and Caroline left to go to the ranch and I just knew something bad was going to happen. It took everything in me not to call him and tell him to come home, but deep down I knew it was my mind raging out of control. I had to calm myself down, spend some time in prayer, and it all turned out okay. They went to the ranch, had a lovely day, and other than Caroline poking a hole in her Whataburger cup full of lemonade, everything was fine.

    Finally one night, sitting on the couch next to P, I was gripped by the fear that something was really wrong with me. It was hard for me to even find the words to tell him what was going on. Honestly, I don’t think I even conveyed how truly worried I was, I just told him I was really concerned about my health and told him to pray for me.

    The next morning I was sitting at the computer when he walked in from an appointment. He said, “I prayed for you this morning. I prayed that God would heal whatever it is in you that feels like anytime He is doing something really good in your life that it means something bad is going to happen.”

    And with that statement, I began to cry. Because at that moment, P had just spoken an incredible truth into my life. I hadn’t even been aware that’s what I’d been doing, but I knew in an instant it was exactly what was going on. I’ve been waiting for the other shoe to drop.

    Somewhere along the way I was tricked into believing that I don’t deserve the good. It’s not even that my life has been full of the bad. I have been abundantly blessed in so many ways, but there’s a part of me that always feels like I don’t deserve it or that it must mean something bad is going to happen eventually. I had even convinced myself that the whole reason I had this blog was so I could fight my horrific faux health battle on the internet.

    It was a lie. It was all a lie.

    God wants to give us good things. Actually, He wants to give us the BEST things, but it requires faith. And yes, bad things are going to happen because it’s an inevitable part of life, but when they happen we make the decision to walk through them with God or away from God. He doesn’t cause them. He’s not up there with some holy abacus keeping count of the good and the bad in everyone’s life and making sure it comes out even.

    Here’s the amazing thing. That morning after P and I talked, my health issue disappeared. I’ve been perfectly fine ever since. It’s like it had a grip on me and once the truth was spoken it had no choice but to let go.

    And that’s what this year has been about for me. Letting go. Of fear. Of insecurity. Of pride.

    I’ve let it go and life will never look the same again.

    It’s all about remembering God holds it all. And He is good.

    Psalm 103: 2-5 “Praise the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits – who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion, who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.”

  • In all fairness, that teaspoon of shaved ice was delicious

    So, here’s a question.

    What does this look like to y’all?

    Tool of Satan or innocent toy that makes icy delights?

    After spending an afternoon that will now be forever remembered as “The Day My Carpal Tunnel Syndrome Began”, I have to go with Tool of Satan.

    Also, do mamas get some kind of workman’s comp?

    Because, technically, this was an on-the-job injury.

  • My life is hard

    I was looking at my WordPress dashboard last night and noticed that someone found my blog by googling, “Help, my eyelashes have grown back in pointing downwards.”

    Well, great.

    As if I don’t have enough on my mind with the downward spiral of the stock market, the Presidential race, and whether or not to let my hair grow back out, now I have to worry about the possibility that my eyelashes are growing in at a downward angle.

    There isn’t an eyelash curler in the world that can fix that.