Other

In the interest of full disclosure, I will tell you that we recorded this last Thursday afternoon. I don’t think it makes much difference and can’t remember if there’s anything that makes it seem like it’s five days later.

Well, except for the fact that I don’t mention my eye injury because I can PROMISE it would have been a topic had it already occurred. Speaking of, my follow up visit to the doctor confirmed that my cornea is healing nicely and he said I just needed to continue to medicate with plenty of wine and chocolate.

Or maybe that’s just what I heard.

Anyway, I can’t remember everything we cover but I do know that Travis made a surprise guest appearance for the last fifteen or so minutes and you know I got him to do just a little Neil Diamond before it was all over.

Also, not surprisingly, we talk about Amy Grant.

You can click here to listen. Or here. You can even listen right here.

Or, as always, you can subscribe on iTunes.

This weekend was planned to be fairly uneventful. We don’t have any sporting events on the calendar yet and so it was just going to be low key. My biggest hope was to get some closets and cabinets cleaned out and figure out what we’re going to do with Caroline’s bedroom now that she’s decided she’s officially over pink and lime green and ready for a change.

On Friday night Caroline went to dinner with some friends and P left to go hunting and so I went to eat Mexican food with Mimi and Bops. I guess when you reach your forties, life comes full circle and you go back to spending some Friday nights eating dinner with your parents. They even took me out for ice cream afterwards. Fingers crossed they’ll buy me a pony for my birthday.

Later on I picked Caroline up from her friend’s house and we pretty much went straight to bed because we were both so tired. Which is why I found it so unfortunate the puppies decided to get up at 7:00 a.m. on Saturday morning. Actually, Piper did her patented voracious ear shake at 6:25 and I never really went back to sleep after that.

So at 7:00 a.m., I got up to let them outside and decided there wasn’t much point in going back to bed. My hope was that I could let them back in and maybe they’d go back to sleep while I dozed on the couch. The fact I thought this was even a possibility just proves that in the deepest part of my heart I am an optimist. Because what they did instead involved playing tug of war with one of Caroline’s headbands they found in her bathroom and playing chase around the dining room table. I put them back outside at one point but then they began to bark and I didn’t want to alienate the neighbors so I brought them back in.

I went ahead and fixed my coffee when it became apparent that going back to sleep wasn’t going to happen and sat on the couch to catch up on current events or maybe to look at people on Facebook when Piper came and put her head on my knee. All was forgiven because she is just the sweetest and so I scratched her ears and told her how pretty she is and then she put her paws up on my lap. I’m not sure what happened next because it’s all a blur, but somehow she ended up scratching my eye with her paw. Yes. My eye. With her paw.

It felt like hot nails.

I seriously think I blacked out for a minute and then I worried that my whole eye was gouged out. I walked into the bathroom to check the damage in the mirror and was relieved to see my eye was intact although very red and watery. So I rinsed it out and waited for it to feel better.

But therein was the problem. It never started to feel better. In fact, it began to feel worse and I couldn’t open it without it watering profusely. I’m not an eye doctor and I don’t even play one on T.V., but I knew this wasn’t good.

When I was fourteen years old, I woke up one morning and my eye wouldn’t stop watering. I tried to go to school, but it only got worse. And a trip to the eye doctor led to the discovery that I had somehow gotten a speck of paint on my eye that they had to laser off. This was all good and fine until the doctor informed me I’d need to wear an eye patch for a week. You know what will make an adolescent girl wish the ground would swallow her whole? Walking around high school looking like a pirate for an entire week. There are only so many times someone can walk up to you and exclaim “AARGH, MATEY!” before you start to feel a little fragile. Fortunately, I had a sweet mullet haircut to make it all look more attractive.

Anyway, on Saturday morning as I began to realize my eye wasn’t getting better, I consulted the Google in the hopes of finding an eye doctor who works on weekends. I called and told them my sad story and they said they could fit me in at 12:50. In the meantime, I tried to keep my mind off my eye by cleaning up the house and doing some laundry. But then I started sweeping and worried the dust was making my eye worse. So I dug through the basket of dress up clothes in Caroline’s closet, channeled my fourteen-year-old self and ended up cleaning the house looking like this.

This is probably not what Jimmy Buffett had in mind when he wrote A Pirate Looks at Forty. But you do have to admit that patch has some flair.

Mimi and Bops drove me to the doctor since my vision was impaired and I didn’t think I could see well enough to drive, thus making my transition back to childhood complete. The doctor put some drops in my eye, took a look through whatever you call that magnifying thing and said, “OH WOW. THIS LOOKS BAD.”

Well. That is very comforting.

He went on to say, “She got a chunk of your cornea with her paw.” Which was the first time I’d ever realized you really don’t want to hear the word “chunk” associated with your eye. He prescribed some antibiotic drops and debated on giving me a painkiller but said, “that might be overkill”. I assured him that I am a fan of overkill when it comes to pain relief, but he decided I’d be okay with just Extra-Strength Tylenol. I shared my story about the patch when I was in ninth grade and he told me they really don’t use patches anymore. Sadly, the optometry community made this decision thirty years too late to spare me from teenage angst.

The good news is my eye feels significantly better than it did yesterday and I’m going back to the doctor tomorrow so he can make sure it’s healing properly.

As for Piper, she has no idea she wreaked such havoc and caused me to spend lots of money and time at the doctor on Saturday morning. But Mabel knows. In fact, I found this haiku she wrote about it in her poetry notebook later that day.

Sister is too rough
Big paws nearly gouged an eye
She shows no remorse

I’m not even kidding.

Something is going on with our internet or WordPress and I just wrote an entire blog post with – well- let’s call it delightful and insightful commentary even though that may not be true – and the whole thing just disappeared into the wide world of the web.

So now you’re just going to get a quick version of the cute things I’ve found this week:

1. steve madden patzee bootie

I love these booties. But I might love even more that the name makes it sound like someone with a French accent is telling us Steve Madden patted someone’s bootie.

And, even better, these are 30% off with code HITREFRESH until the end of the day.

2. crochet trim hoodie

I love a hoodie with a little something extra.

3. topshop geo knit cape

Love the colors and style of this. I would replicate this exact outfit.

4. bib popover tunic

Always a fan of a white tunic. Easy to throw on with jeans or leggings with boots or flats. It’s a crisp, clean look. And this is 35% off with code BEST at checkout.

5. old navy pleated skirt

I always love these skirts by Old Navy. Perfect to transition from winter to spring to summer depending on what you wear with them.

6. simplicity on a saturday tunic

This is really cute to throw on with jeans now and shorts later.

7. woven hem layered look sweater

These layered look sweaters are great and on sale for $39.90. They come in several different color and pattern combos.

8. steve madden ecentric sneakers

I’ve been eyeing these for a while. A fun alternative to just your basic Converse sneakers.

9. weave lightweight poncho

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wait. A poncho for spring? Sign me up. I love how this looks with white jeans. But it also comes in a great navy and coral pattern too.

10. free people tie that binds blouse

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This blouse is so pretty in person and looks great with jeans. And it’s on sale for $49.95.

That’s it for today.

Have a great Friday.

So I pretty much spent yesterday catching up on all the things I’d neglected to do while I was in Dallas, including such exciting things as making a grocery list and then going to HEB to purchase said groceries. And I did some laundry and attempted to straighten up the drawers in Caroline’s room because she is basically incapable of finding the t-shirt she wants to wear without disturbing all the other t-shirts contained therein. I even tried this trick I saw on a friend’s Facebook page where you fold the t-shirts and line them up in the drawer instead of stacking them on top of each other, but to no avail.

I also spent some time doing hydrotherapy on Mabel’s leg which is a fancy way of saying I put her in the bathtub and sprayed it with the handheld shower head. The vet said this would help with the healing process and Mabel seems to think it’s quite the treat. And then I put together what might be my new coffee table. I say “might be” because I’m undecided on whether or not I’m going to keep it. It might be a little more antique gold than what I was wanting, but I’m going to obsess about it for a few days and get opinions from anyone who walks into or even nearby my house before I make a final decision. I’d get your opinion but that would require me to get up and take a picture and I’m past that point right now.

Speaking of new things that are still awaiting a final decision, I finally bought myself a new pillow. Some of you may remember that about two years ago I asked for recommendations for a good pillow because I was in need of a new one and, now – TWO YEARS LATER – I pulled the trigger. Maybe.

I’d long been intrigued by the My Pillow commercials and had a friend tell me several years ago that she adored her My Pillow and it was the best one she’d ever had. But I just couldn’t reconcile ordering a pillow online that I’d never felt or tested and if you’ve been reading this blog long enough you know I make the Princess in The Princess and the Pea look like a low maintenance sleeper who could doze off in the aisle seat of an airplane with no neck pillow.

On the My Pillow website it claims to be “the official pillow of the National Sleep Foundation” and that sounds totally legitimate even though I had no idea that such a foundation existed. For all I know it could be like when George Costanza made donations to The Human Fund. But I finally decided to order one over Christmas vacation when Caroline and I were watching T.V. one night and a commercial came on advertising a “Buy One, Get One Free” special on My Pillows. And I am a sucker for a BOGO. Plus Caroline said, “Oh Mom! We should try those pillows! They’re the official pillow of the National Sleep Foundation!”

Which just goes to prove the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.

So I went on the website and ordered them. They arrived a little over a week ago in a package that was so small that I didn’t even realize it was the new pillows until I opened it up. I pulled one of them out of the plastic packaging and tested it to see what I thought. And I’ll be honest, my initial assessment was that it was the jankiest pillow I’ve ever felt. Like if I’d tried it out at Bed, Bath and Beyond I would have dropped it and run the other way. It basically felt like the opposite of excellence.

But I kept thinking about all the promises from the website. It helps with neck pain and fibromyalgia and sleep apnea! Granted, I suffer from none of those things but still. I tucked Caroline in with her new My Pillow and she came out of the room about ten minutes later and said, “There is no way I can sleep on that thing. It’s so uncomfortable.” So we switched her back to her normal pillow.

However, I wanted to see for myself. I traded out my pillow for the My Pillow and laid there for about five minutes as I thought how it felt a little bit like I was lying on styrofoam peanuts. But, next thing I knew, I was sound asleep and woke up in the morning feeling refreshed. I decided it was probably just because I was so tired that I would have slept like that even if my head wasn’t resting on the official pillow of the National Sleep Foundation.

So I tried it again the next night and the next night and every night since because I keep waiting to decide it’s as uncomfortable as it seems to appear during the day. Yet I keep falling asleep on it and sleeping well. And I feel like the clock is ticking because there’s a 60 day money back guarantee. I’m just so intrigued that a pillow that feels so awful is allowing me to sleep. The whole phenomenon is fascinating, especially when you consider that I have tried and rejected so many other pillows over the years.

I can’t explain it.

But maybe the National Sleep Foundation is on to something.

Today was one of those winter days in Texas when the temperature hit eighty degrees and I sat out on the back porch with my bare feet soaking up the sunlight. It was enough to make me feel like it’s springtime which will make it only that much more cruel when the rain and cold come back in by tomorrow night.

The good news is we’re finally getting back to normal here. Caroline is officially over the flu and even Mabel got her stitches out yesterday and is back to voraciously patrolling the backyard to defend us from men with beards and hats.

But the biggest thing going on over the last few days was a little road trip Gulley and I made to Dallas to see Jen. We’d been trying to figure out a time to go ever since we found out her cancer was back in early December, but wanted to wait until she’d settled into her new treatment schedule. And so we’d been going back and forth with possible dates until she finally just texted and asked, “What about this coming Monday?”

SOLD.

We left San Antonio at 11:00 on Sunday morning. Our original plan was 10:30 but I stopped at Starbucks for coffee and had a barista who apparently flew to Columbia to get the beans to make my latte and that delayed our departure. Gulley loaded her stuff in my car as soon as I pulled up and we hit the open road to Dallas. It’s about a four and a half hour trip and I will tell you there wasn’t even one moment of silence for the entirety of our time in the car. We hadn’t had much time to talk during the week since I was running a home for sick children and dogs and so we had all manner of topics to cover, including that I decided I couldn’t watch this season of The Bachelor when I saw the beginning of the episode when he put on a hoodie without a shirt on under it. That’s not a real outfit.

True to our road trip ways, we stopped in Waco for Popeye’s chicken and I’m sad to report that Chip and Joanna Gaines were not there. I secretly hoped maybe Popeye’s was their after church dining spot, but I guess not. So we got back on the road with our chicken and continued on our way to Dallas.

As soon as we got there we headed straight to Jen’s house and spent some time with her before we met a group of friends for dinner.

We had the best time and laughed and caught up on life until we realized it was almost 10:00 and none of us are used to being out that late these days, plus we had to be up early the next morning for Jen’s day at the hospital.

Mondays are her treatment days which is why we chose to make the trip when we did. Especially when Jen spoke my love language and told me that this particular Monday was going to be one of the more interesting medical days because they were going to run a lot of different tests throughout the day. She’s part of a clinical study and so her treatment days aren’t always the same depending on what information they need to gather, but they are always long – usually beginning by 8:00 a.m. and lasting until 5:30 or 6:00.

Our friend Jamie met Gulley and I at Starbucks and then we drove to the hospital to meet Jen. She was getting an initial blood draw but then they eventually moved us into what her nurse referred to as our own private “party room”. It seriously oversold what was basically a small patient room, but we were so thankful to have our own little place to set up camp with all our snacks and drinks where we could spend the day.

And that’s what we did. We laughed and told stories and solved problems and had ourselves a complete therapy session before the day was over. And there were moments I’d almost forget why we were there until the nurse came in to do a blood draw or Jen’s oncologist came in and handed her a “Cancer Sucks” pin to wear. That part? The part where we were all sitting in an oncology ward in a hospital? Does not compute.

But the thing about being with dear friends is you can have fun just about anywhere. This was never more evident than when Jen’s nurse had to come in and tell us we all needed to be a little quieter because we were laughing and talking too loud. It just goes to show some things don’t change even when one of you has cancer.

Over the course of the day Jamie’s sister Jennifer and her daughter stopped by to check on Jen and our friend Hite brought us lunch. Then Jen’s friend C brought Lincoln up to visit his mama. And he got us all so tickled when he informed us he didn’t like Jesus because he has bad hair. Gulley suggested maybe Jen needs to find a picture of a better coiffed Jesus to show him in the future since it’s clear the one he’s seen might present a Jesus in need of a hairbrush.

It was a short trip but we packed it full of so many sweet memories and good laughs and the reminder that nothing makes you realize what’s truly important in life than being with the friends that you’ve known and loved for decades.

***Giveaway is now closed and winners have been notified by email! So if you haven’t heard from me, go ahead and order yourself a copy of Home is Where My People Are!***

Here are your random numbers:

44 610 194
Timestamp: 2015-01-20 04:14:37 UTC

Last year my dear friend Sophie and I were writing books at the same time. In some ways this was good because we could share all our neurotic thoughts and continually reassure each other that we had “plenty of time” before our deadlines even though the truth was those dates were creeping incredibly close on the calendar.

But my very favorite part was getting to read Sophie’s words as she wrote them. She’d usually send me an email that said something along the lines of “I think this whole thing might be terrible, but why don’t you read it and let me know what you think?” And then I’d read it and laugh or cry or just nod my head and feel a lump forming in my throat from the tenderness of it all.

Because the thing is, my friendship with Sophie began because I love the way she writes. And then I got to know her in real life and discovered her writing is the closest thing to being in a room with her listening to her tell stories. So to get to read her words as she wrestled with them and edited them (She is a world-class editor. I know because I basically had her do the initial edits on my book.) and told all of these stories about the roads and the people that became her home on the road of life was such a gift.

Home is Where My People Are is the perfect read this winter when it’s cold outside and you’re looking for something to warm you up from the inside out. It’s about family, friends and all the people you meet along the way who leave a mark on your life. If you’re from the South, it will feel like home and if you’re not, it’ll make you wish you were. Home is Where My People Are is funny, charming, heartwarming and just an all-around great read. You’re going to finish it and then buy a copy for your mother and your grandmother and your aunt and your best friends and your hair stylist.

It’s available right now at almost all the assorted booksellers that you can imagine and also in your local brick and mortar bookstore or you can download it on your preferred electronic reading device.

Here are a couple of links for your convenience where the book is already in stock:

Barnes & Noble

Amazon

Books-A-Million

Parable

Tyndale Direct

And here are a couple of places you can find the ebook all ready to go:

Amazon

iBooks

Best of all, if you order it before January 31, there’s a vast array of free things you can get as a way to say thank you. Just click here to find out all the details and you can even download the first chapter for a sneak peek here.

And I’m giving away THREE COPIES of Home is Where My People Are today. Just leave a comment and I will choose three people at random. But the deal is that I’m closing comments at 5:00 p.m. on Monday, January 19th because that way you can go ahead and face your disappointment and then order it if you don’t win.

I know you’re going to love it as much as I do.