So we headed out to the coast yesterday for the Labor Day weekend. It will be a big time of big fun in the sun combined with watching football. I may be a little scarce, but I’ll be back Monday with some good stories I am sure.
In the meantime, go check out some great links at Boomama’s.
Happy Labor Day!
Yesterday morning I walked outside and discovered that it felt a little like Fall. Not much, but a little. The breeze was out of the north and just slightly cooler and my whole body sighed with relief that the end of summer is near. And with the end of summer comes…College Football baby.
Specifically, my beloved Texas Aggies. They will open their season on Saturday against the Citadel at Kyle Field. Can I get a whoop, an amen and a Beat the Hell out of the Citadel?
My Aggies have had their share of challenges over the last few seasons. Coach Fran has not proven to be the end all be all that he was cracked up to be, but I have great hopes for this season and it mainly comes in the form of a young man named Stephen McGee. Here’s a quote from McGee, “I’d just say I love to compete. I hate to lose more than I like to win. That’s just me out there. I want to give it everything I have and do whatever it takes for us to be successful.”
Watching him play in our last game of the season against the Longhorns was like watching pure, raw, tough poetry in motion. He got hit, and then he got hit again, and then he got hit again and then…he got up and talked some trash. He looked at that defender and motioned for him to BRING IT ON and the sound you heard was legions of Aggies weeping maroon tears for the heart of this young man who does not quit.
Two days and counting until we kick this new season off and we’ll see which teams are all preseason hype and which teams are ready to play some football.
Gig’em.
Fall is without a doubt my favorite time of the year and these are the reasons why.
1. It’s still hot, but not the kind of hot that makes you feel like you just stuck your head in an oven.
2. The first morning that I walk outside and realize the air is crisp and cool. I can tell the wind has shifted because I can hear the train whistle and the sound of the high school band practicing in the morning.
3. Knowing that every Saturday there is a college football game on from morning until night. Big XII, SEC, Pac 10…it doesn’t really matter because it’s all good.
4. Candy corn and the occasional mellowcreme pumpkin.
5. Taking Caroline to the incredible Pumpkin Patch at the Methodist Church. Those Methodists know how to display some pumpkins.
6. Getting dressed in the morning and being able to put on jeans, a sweater and boots.
7. High school football games. I love to hear the band play, watch the cheerleaders jump up and down in between gossiping, and see all the other drama unfold with the high schoolers in the stands. Oh yeah…the football is good too.
8. The smell outside when people are burning fires in their fireplaces.
9. Making a huge batch of crawfish etouffee and having friends over on the first really cold night of the season.
10. School starts again for Caroline. It’s loads of fun for her and a welcome break for me. It’s a win-win.
11. Loading up the dogs and the kid and going to the ranch to hang out with friends, shoot some dove and just hang out.
12. Did I mention college football?
13. Knowing that Thanksgiving and Christmas are just around the corner. They aren’t kidding about it being the most wonderful time of the year.
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I had a relatively easy pregnancy. I didn’t gain too much weight, I wasn’t too uncomfortable and don’t hate me but I was wearing my normal clothes again 2 weeks after I gave birth. I will admit that I was a little bit like “Hello, my name is fabulous” about my easy, breezy, beautiful gestation, but oh…the gods of pregnancy are fair my friends, they are fair.
Do you know what I’m talking about when I say pregnancy mask? Or the technical term “melasma”? It’s when your skin gets blotchy dark patches due to hormones.
I discovered the summer after I had Caroline that my hormones had undergone some kind of unspeakable horror that was causing me to have what looked like a mustache on my face. I will never forget looking at our pictures from 4th of July and asking P. “is that what I look like? Oh my good gracious, I have a mustache!” His reply was that since I’m half Italian he just thought I was dark and hairy. Did he not realize I hadn’t had a mustache during the eight previous years he had known me?
I IMMEDIATELY headed down to the closest Eckerds to load up with every kind of bleaching cream known to man. I scrubbed, I bleached, I sunscreened and wore a hat that provided shade to anyone in a five foot radius when I was out in the sun. And thankfully, it faded.
The problem is that just like bad relatives, it comes back for a visit every summer. The lethal cocktail of the sun combined with my hormones seems to call it into being. My dermatologist told me that it would go away for good if I got off the pill, but really for the time being if the choice is having a newborn or looking like Tom Selleck three months of the year…I’ll choose to go the Magnum PI route.
At least for the other 9 months of the year, it’s barely noticeable. But the lesson I’ve learned is that it doesn’t matter how good you look in your bathing suit at the pool if you have a mustache that might cause a kid working at the grill to say “Excuse me Sir, your tater tots are ready”.
I don’t know if y’all remember, but a few weeks ago I had AT&T come out to see about getting new television service that included 2 DVRs. They initially told me that the only way it would work would be if they ran a cable down the side of my house, so I politely sent them on their way. The conversation actually went like this, I said, “Do you mean to tell me that if I want this service I’ll have a white cable running down the side of my house?” and AT&T guy said, “Oh no ma’am, it will be a black cable”. Well, why didn’t he say so in the first place? A black cable is a COMPLETELY different story.
AT&T guy left and I was totally despondent about losing 2 DVRs before I ever even had them. So, when P. got home I told him what had happened and he had a brilliant solution to ensure that we could in fact get our Dish Network and maintain the charm of our home. His problem solving skills are just one of many reasons that I keep him around. We called AT&T back and rescheduled. I am happy to report that we are now indeed the proud owners of 2 DVRs and satellite service.
However, one thing I overlooked is that when you change providers for your television service, you have all new channels. I have no idea where any channel is anymore, except for Noggin because it’s a necessity. I’ve never been one to remember that a show is on CBS or ABC, it’s just on Channel 5 or Channel 13.
So my new confusion brings Nena to mind because she will call you and say “Turn it to Channel 25. They are showing a movie about that cheerleading mom that tried to kill somebody. Isn’t that terrible? Why would someone do that? This is just awful, I can hardly watch. Turn it to Channel 25.”
It has never occurred to her that your Channel 25 is different from her Channel 25 and if you ask her what network she couldn’t even begin to tell you (although with Nena it’s always a safe bet to assume she’s watching Lifetime). And now I find out that I’m not that different. Oh, how the mighty have fallen.
The fortunate thing is the timing of this situation. I have about 2-3 weeks to familiarize myself with my new T.V. channels before all the new shows start and once they start, my friends, I will have TWO DVRs to record them. It’s a multitude of riches.
As the mother of a three year old and as the wife of a man, I tend to be on the go quite a bit. From the time I wake up in the morning at a truly indecent hour until the time I go to bed at night, there is a lot of noise. As much as I love the sound of my daughter’s voice, I long for just a moment of silence.
I love my family and friends more than I can ever express, but I am also a person who craves quiet like some people crave chocolate (I crave that too, by the way). Anyone who really knows me knows that I reach a point where I get “peopled out”. And as my little sister used to say “I need a piece of quiet”.
When life starts to feel like a tug of war with everyone pulling me in different directions, the stillness helps me to regain my balance, figure out my thoughts on something, and most importantly hear the Voice that I need to hear the most to keep things in their proper perspective. If I am too busy or have too many external things going on, I quit hearing His voice and that’s usually when a meltdown will occur.
So, today as I feel my frustration level starting to rise, I am reminding myself to carve out a piece of quiet for myself. For me, it’s the best thing I can do for my family and myself and if it means that Caroline has time to completely destroy her playroom, well then so be it. The quiet restores my soul and ultimately helps me be a more patient mother, wife and friend.
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