Other

This day.

I can’t even tell you. It was just one of those days that got on my last nerve.

Here’s a highlight. I went to the pharmacy to pick up the prescription the doctor wrote for Caroline, waited in a long line and got to the cashier only to realize I’d left my wallet at home. The only reason I didn’t burst into tears on the spot was because I felt it might be awkward for the poor girl at the cash register.

So I waited until I was in the car.

And then I drove home and got my wallet and repeated the entire process except this time I paid for the prescription and didn’t have to awkwardly bite my lip to keep from crying.

Anyway, none of that really matters because the real story is that I have a fun contest to announce today. A couple of months ago I was talking with my publishing peeps at Tyndale because we wanted to come up with something different to do with The Antelope in the Living Room.

That’s when Katie (who’s really lovely and smart) came up with the brilliant thought that The Antelope in the Living Room is basically a six word description of my marriage.

And we decided it might be kind of entertaining to celebrate that February is the month of love (Or the month where people give each other heart-shaped boxes of chocolate) by asking you to share your own six word description of your marriage. Basically we’re looking for a six word catchphrase the captures the essence of your relationship with your spouse.

Here are a few examples because I am always a fan of over explaining:

Dirty socks on the bedroom floor
Sports-obsessed weekends on the couch
The kids, dogs, fun and exhaustion
Care and keeping of controlled chaos.

To enter you can share your six words on Twitter, or Instagram with a photo to illustrate, or on my Big Mama Facebook page here. Make sure you end your entries with #antelopeinthelivingroom to make sure we can find them and enter them in the drawing. And, even better, you can submit multiple entries because we realize your six words might change depending on the day and your mood.

The contest will run until Saturday, March 1 and then we’ll combine all the entries and choose a winner at random.

And what do they win, Bob?

Well, the winner will receive a gift basket full of some of my favorite things. A $50 gift card to Target and a $30 gift card to iTunes. Signed copies of both of my books. And, best of all, this scarf that I sent out with early copies of Antelope.

And these turquoise Kendra Scott earrings.

I hope y’all will have fun with this. Can’t wait to see what you come up with.

Or even what your husband may come up with.

As for P, I’m thinking his would be “My wife didn’t cook again tonight”.

I need to make a confession.

I’m just not that into the Winter Olympics.

I think it’s because I live in South Texas and, well, not a lot of snowboarding or moguls to be found around here. And I don’t even understand the luge. At what point in your life do you willingly get in a small tube and decide to hurl yourself down a large apparatus at the speed of light?

My answer to that question is NEVER.

Frankly, the last Winter Olympics I truly enjoyed was in 1994 because you had the whole Nancy Kerrigan/Tonya Harding thing and it was more akin to a Lifetime movie than a sporting event. Not to mention that’s when Dan Jansen won the gold medal in speed skating and he took a victory lap around the rink with his baby girl while they played “In Your Eyes” by Peter Gabriel. And now I’m crying just thinking about it because it was just that good.

I loved the ’94 Winter Olympics so much that I even chose to watch them instead of going out with my friends to Hurricane Harry’s and there was no greater sacrifice at that time in my life than to miss a night out.

Maybe I’m just out of the loop this time. I don’t know the human interest stories and who I’m supposed to be cheering for and I tried to watch but Bob Costas has pink eye and I’m afraid I might catch it through the television and so that’s the end of that.

Plus, those sweaters Ralph Lauren designed for the U.S. team are a travesty. Somewhere people all over the world who own Christmas-themed sweaters featuring cats wearing Santa hats feel validated.

And who knows? Maybe at some point in the next week or so I’ll get sucked in because I’ll hear some story about a member of the curling team who thought he’d never use his broom again, but he persevered and, BOOM, I’ll be on my couch crying like a baby and lamenting that I could have had a curling career if only I’d learned how to properly use a broom. Or cared about curling. Or even knew that it existed prior to 2002.

But I’m also at a juncture in my life where I need to reserve my emotional energy because Caroline broke some news to me over the weekend that’s going to require all my strength. She wants to get her hair cut to shoulder length.

I mean we haven’t even finished growing out the bangs I begged her not to cut in August and now she’s wanting to get six inches cut off her hair. Which, FINE. It’s her hair. But I’m the one who ends up needing a Masters in Hair Psychology every morning before school as she laments its current state.

In other news, we had a nice weekend. I’m not totally sure that I’m caught up on my sleep. By which I mean that I am absolutely not caught up on my sleep. I blame most of this solely on the train conductor who decided to drive through town at 1 a.m. Saturday morning blowing his train horn as if his life depended on it.

On Saturday morning we went to Caroline’s basketball game. Her team won and after a crazy week it was so nice to just sit there and watch her play. Every time I watch her I think of Shakespeare’s quote “Though she be but little, she is fierce.”

And then she left with P that afternoon to go to the ranch. I spent some time running errands and cleaning the house and paying bills and all the things I’d completely neglected in the midst of book launch week last week and got a text from P that read, “She’s wiped out.”

Yep. Sound asleep in the backseat on the way to the ranch.

It’s so out of character for her to fall asleep in the middle of the day. Which was why I was even more disturbed later when P texted me this picture.

It’s Caroline sound asleep. On the ground. While she was hunting.

On the upside, her camo appears to be working beautifully. You can hardly see her.

Sure enough, she woke up Sunday morning with a low grade fever and just generally not feeling well. Which totally fits because I’m leaving town on Tuesday and this seems to be the way these things have happened this year. It does wonders for my guilt complex. But I just tell myself that if I ever win a speed skating contest I am totally going to carry her while I skate a victory lap around the ice rink and Peter Gabriel sings “In Your Eyes”.

So tomorrow morning she’s staying home from school and I’m running to do a quick talk for a MOPs group while she stays home with P and then we’ll probably be at the Med Clinic by noon because I have a good suspicion that it’s strep.

And then maybe we’ll spend the rest of the afternoon watching the luge competition.

But probably not unless Nancy Kerrigan is one of the competitors.
_______________________________________

A few quick Antelope in the Living Room notes:

Tomorrow I’m going to announce a fun contest for Antelope. You don’t want to miss it.

I’m going to be in Virginia Beach at Princess Anne Country Club this Wednesday, February 12. You can find out more here.

I’m going to be signing books from 10:30 – noon this Saturday, February 15 at Books-A-Million at Katy Mills in Katy, TX.

On Friday, February 28th, I’m speaking at Grace Bible Church in College Station, TX. You can find out more details here.

We just got home a little while ago from a Super Bowl party and I’ve sat here for the last thirty minutes trying to figure out if I have anything interesting to say.

Here’s the short version. No I do not.

But I will share some things I learned during the Super Bowl for lack of anything better to share.

1. Jack Bauer is coming back, y’all. Jack is back. And it looks like Chloe is coming with him which makes me so happy because she’s like the female Napoleon Dynamite on the show. GAH. Are you gonna eat your tots?

2. Starting the game with a fumbled snap and a safety doesn’t bode well.

3. I really didn’t have a real preference for who won. I originally thought I was cheering for the Broncos but as the game went on I became acutely aware of how little I cared about the outcome.

4. I felt like Bruno Mars and his band were reminiscent of Sha-Na-Na in their gold lame’ jackets.

5. When you eat a dinner composed of chips, guacamole, ribs, brisket, cheese pizza, caramelized bacon, jalapeño poppers, and chili, it might make your stomach not feel so great later. I have so many regrets.

6. My child was a fan of the Super Bowl party accessories.

7. I decided if I ever coach a team that might win the Super Bowl (because that’s totally a real possibility) I’m going to ask my players to not pour Gatorade on me. Water, fine. But the idea of being cold AND sticky? It’s too much for me to bear. I’d have to shower immediately and miss all the post-game celebration.

8. The Budweiser commercials with the puppy and the horse make me feel like I’m being emotionally manipulated. I’m not sure what the end result is though because they don’t make me think I need to drink a Budweiser.

9. If you bet in a pool where you choose some squares and have no idea what you’re doing, you might win $100 because that totally happened to me last night.

10. I’m sad that football is over until August because it’s the only televised sport I care to watch.

And there you have it.

Also, I’m not sure if you remember because I’ve only mentioned it, oh I don’t know, 5403 times, but I have a book coming out tomorrow. And you’ll want to make sure not to miss the blog because we are giving away some fabulous prizes all week just because I love you all so much and am excited about the book and hope you will be too.

And for my San Antonio area friends, don’t forget that I’ll be signing books at the Barnes and Noble at San Pedro across from North Star Mall tomorrow (Tuesday, Feb. 4) from 6-8 p.m. I’d love to see you there because I really don’t want to be sitting there by myself because AWKWARD.

See y’all tomorrow. It kind of feels like Christmas Eve.

First of all, I’ve never been more certain that I have the best readers in all of the world. I hit publish on that post last night and then tossed and turned all night, wondering if maybe I should delete it or if it was too much. And then I spent all day yesterday reading the sweetest, most encouraging comments and emails ever. Thank you for that and for loving me and for just generally being all kinds of awesome.

Secondly, on a more shallow note, I have struggled to find fashion items for today. Specifically because we’re in that weird time of year where the winter stuff that’s still around is on sale and probably for a reason. And the spring stuff is cute but, hi, even the Southern United States experienced a snow storm this week and I think we still have a while before we break out the sandals.

All that being said, I did my best and I found some things I really like.

1. mirabelle faux leather jacket

I’ve been on the lookout for a jacket like this all winter long and now I think I’ve finally found THE ONE. It’s not real leather but I’m not concerned about that. What caught my eye is that it’s $85 and has a majority of rave reviews.

2. crystal station enamel bangle

These bangles come in a rainbow of colors and I can totally see them stacked on my arm.

3. peasant tunic dress

I love this. My only dilemma is that it also comes in navy and black and I can’t decide which color I’d prefer. But all of them would look great with leggings and boots.

4. annabelle crocheted pullover

I hope it’s obvious that you’ll need to wear something under this. But I really like it for a spring/summer transition sweater. It also comes in a few other colors.

5. gap fit training hoodie

I’ve featured this before, but now it’s on sale. However, sizes are limited. But, pardon me for channeling Hans and Frans, listen to me now and believe me later. You want this hoodie in your athletic wear arsenal. It’ll pump you up.

6. sabine boho blouse

Last spring I bought a blouse that’s very similar to this and wore the heck out of it. It looks great with regular jeans now and perfect with white jeans later.

7. brigid ponte dress

This dress looks really cute and it comes in several colors. This is the kind of thing that can be dressed up for the office or a night out or just worn with sandals and some fun jewelry. It’s basically the blank slate of dresses.

8. ethereal lace top

I can’t even express all the ways I adore this top. It also comes in a lovely cream color.

9. gap stripe roll sleeve henley top

Love this casual top. Easy to throw on with jeans or shorts.

10. justin cowboy boots

It’s almost rodeo time here in San Antonio and that has me thinking about cowboy boots. Specifically, do I need a new pair of them? I feel the correct answer to this is yes. And I think these might be the right ones. I love that they’re just simple and traditional.

So that’s it for today.

Have a great Friday.