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Other

A Guide to San Antonio

Other

I normally don't post much here anymore, but I'm getting so many requests for things to do in San Antonio that I figured it was time to update an old post I'd written about things to do and places to eat. The most common question I get via email or direct message is something along the lines of “My family and I are planning to visit San Antonio. Where should we go? What should we do?” And I Read More

And we are almost to the end of May

Other

It's been a busy week around here because I believe you are probably all aware that it is May. And that means I have given myself a few more days to finish up one last project. Or at least I thought it was one last project until my publisher reminded me I actually have a whole other list of things I need to have finished by mid-June so I'm super excited about that except maybe I'd rather take a Read More

The Big Boo Cast, Episode 75

Other, Podcast

Sophie and I finally found time to record a new podcast and I don't think either of us realized this was Episode 75 which feels like a milestone. Granted, it took us nine years to get here but I'll take my milestones where I can find them. You can click here to listen. Or here. You can even listen right here on the blog. You can also listen on Stitcher. Or, as always, you can Read More

Fashion Friday: Edition when May is about to kill you, go shopping

Fashion, Other

Dear May, I am over you. With Zero Love, Melanie But at least we have online shopping to help us make it through. First things first, The Ikat Elephant is having a big sale. You can get 25% off your entire purchase with the code SPRINGSAVE25 at checkout. Personally, I've had my eye on this jillian printed maxi dress but there are tons of other cute things so you should go check Read More

I meant to find three more things but I didn’t really want to

Other

This started out to be a list of ten and then I drew a blank as to the other three things I was going to talk about and so now it's a list of seven because, you know, that's a thing. Or at least just pretend it's a thing. A top seven list. 1. the best chocolate cake ever I saw this recipe months ago but wasn't in the mood to make a chocolate cake. This is very different from the fact Read More

And that’s what’s been happening here

Other

We have twelve and a half days of school left until summer. I know this because Caroline got in my car this afternoon, slammed the door shut and said, "I AM SO GLAD I ONLY HAVE TWELVE AND A HALF DAYS OF SCHOOL LEFT!" And I wanted to say, "AMEN TO THAT, SISTER!" because err'ybody be so tired of a routine right now. Then she told me that she went to an informational meeting about running cross Read More

Fashion Friday: Edition happy mother’s day and a giveaway!

Fashion, Other

So I'll start with this because I'm kind of excited about it. I wrote my first original piece for TODAY.com and it went up yesterday. You can read it here. And they tell me that it's good to get votes (Why? I don't know. What does it all mean?) but there's a little thing at the top of the article where you can vote for me so it would be great if you could do that if you feel so inclined. The Read More

The great kitchen remodel

Other

So if you've been following along here for a while, you may remember that we decided to get new kitchen cabinets last fall. Actually our original plan was to give the existing cabinets a facelift, but our friend and cabinetmaker looked at them and told us it might actually make more sense to just rip out the old ones and put in new ones since we plan on being in this house forever. And P jumped Read More

Five quick things

Other

Just some things I want to make sure you know about. And stay tuned because I'm finally going to post pictures of our kitchen remodel tomorrow. I know it's been forever but I was waiting for a time when it was actually clean and, well, that just happened last week. 1. Chin Up, America! tee Sophie and I recorded a podcast right after the election when it felt like everyone was wringing Read More

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Who is Melanie?

Melanie ShankleMy name is Melanie and, in some strange twist of fate, I’m also known as Big Mama because I started this blog in July of 2006 when my daughter, Caroline, was not quite three years old and I was in the process of convincing her that BIG girls use the potty and BIG girls don’t have pacifiers, thus she thought BIG was the highest compliment in the land and began referring to me as BIG MAMA.Read More

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Well, we have some news I wanted to share because Well, we have some news I wanted to share because I know many of you are really just here for the Piper and Mabel content. ⁣
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A couple of years ago, Piper contracted a rare fungal infection in her left front paw. It began to invade all her soft tissue and we went to several vet specialists who all agreed there wasn’t any way to treat it short of eventually amputating her leg. We held off on that as long as we could and treated her with meds to slow the growth, but over the last month it became obvious that the foot was causing her pain and it was time. So on Monday, Piper got her left front leg amputated. ⁣
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She’s home now and I’m happy to report that she is doing amazing. Apparently she didn’t get the memo that she is now missing a leg because she hasn’t missed a beat. She’s moving around like a champ and I feel certain she’ll be back to running at the ranch and protecting our home from bearded strangers wearing hats in no time. This is why she is currently on some painkillers and sedatives so she can rest and heal. No one gave her the memo this is a big deal. ⁣
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However, at this point I would like to also give Mabel a sedative because she doesn’t understand why her sister is getting so much attention and is, frankly, a little salty about it. Also special thank you to @alldredgevet who treated our girl like a rockstar.
Back in the high life again. 👍🏻🏈🤍⁣
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I love a bright, shiny football season when the Aggies are 1-0 and the possibilities seem endless. Best time, best place, best people. ⁣
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Thanks and Gig’em.
Twenty-six years ago today we got married. At noon Twenty-six years ago today we got married. At noon. During the hottest month of the year. I give that decision one star, do not recommend. ⭐️⁣
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But we made the best decision when we chose each other because we have lived a lot of life together and still make each other laugh. ❤️⁣
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Also, Perry is spending this anniversary fishing at the coast. And I told him he just needs to remember he already made his best catch twenty-six years ago. 😂
🩵 HAPPY 20th BIRTHDAY, CAROLINE! 🩵⁣ ⁣ I 🩵 HAPPY 20th BIRTHDAY, CAROLINE! 🩵⁣
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I blinked and my baby turned twenty.⁣
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But the gift that happened when I blinked was my delightful little girl turned into an incredible woman and one of my best friends.🩵⁣
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Wishing you a year of joy, love, laughter and winning Aggie teams. I love you so much!🩵
🥳 Happy Birthday, Gulley! 🥳⁣ ⁣ A couple 🥳 Happy Birthday, Gulley! 🥳⁣
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A couple of months ago, Gulley and I took a selfie at an Aggie basketball game and we wondered how many times we had done some version of that over the years. Here’s just what I found on my phone and this doesn’t include most of college since, well, we went to college in the days you had to take film to Fox Photo to get developed and it was a whole thing. 
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Here’s an excerpt from 𝘕𝘰𝘣𝘰𝘥𝘺’𝘴 𝘊𝘶𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘯 𝘠𝘰𝘶 that I wrote years ago. ⁣
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“𝘈 𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘭𝘦 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘧𝘢𝘤𝘵 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘎𝘶𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘮𝘦: 𝘞𝘦 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘥𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘥𝘰𝘤𝘵𝘰𝘳 𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘱𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘭 𝘪𝘯 𝘏𝘰𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘯, 𝘛𝘦𝘹𝘢𝘴 𝘢𝘭𝘮𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘺𝘦𝘢𝘳 𝘢𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵. 𝘍𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘯𝘦𝘹𝘵 𝘦𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘺𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘴 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘵𝘸𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘯𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘮𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘥 𝘶𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘥𝘪𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘐 𝘣𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘦𝘷𝘦 𝘎𝘰𝘥 𝘢𝘭𝘸𝘢𝘺𝘴 𝘬𝘯𝘦𝘸 𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘨𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘶𝘴 𝘵𝘰𝘨𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘵 𝘦𝘹𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘭𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘸𝘦’𝘥 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥 𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘩 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘨𝘪𝘧𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘶𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘴. 𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘐 𝘢𝘭𝘴𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬 𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘢𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘦𝘥 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘸𝘦𝘦𝘵, 𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘮𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴, 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘢𝘭𝘴𝘰 𝘢 𝘭𝘰𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘥𝘶𝘮𝘣 𝘪𝘯 𝘶𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘢𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘺.”⁣
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I’m so thankful for every single bit of it and for a best friend who makes life infinitely more fun. 💕 @gulleyfisher
Best cure for the Texas heat? Leave. ⁣ ⁣ Spend Best cure for the Texas heat? Leave. ⁣
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Spending time in the mountains with old friends who have known you and loved you for over thirty years and counting is a great place to be in July. 🤍

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