Month: March 2010

  • Sudafed, pizza and road trips

    Well, I spent most of my weekend trying to find the perfect combination of medications that would allow me to breathe through my nose and sleep at the same time. Needless to say, it’s been exciting around here.

    Fortunately, my background as a pharmaceutical rep has given me just enough knowledge of the pharmaceutical world for me to feel confident about practicing medicine without a license. Of course my knowledge is limited to the conditions that match the drugs I used to sell. Do you have high cholesterol? I’m your girl. Urinary incontinence? I can help. Respiratory problems? Oh please. Give me a challenge.

    But if you happen to have a migraine headache or some type of fungus? I can provide absolutely zero help and would really prefer to not hear about your fungus. However, I do know that the cure for diabetes is drinking two glasses of wine every night. Granted, I learned this bit of information from Gulley’s grandaddy’s cousin George who wasn’t any kind of medical professional and whose only experience was his own bout with diabetes. It’s probably also important to keep in mind that he referred to diabetes as “the sugar diabetes” which isn’t really a term that many practicing physicians have used since 1943. I suspect that George just liked his wine. And I’d suggest that you consult your physician before following George’s advice.

    Ultimately, I’ve discovered that the best pharmaceutical combo for my current condition is one Sudafed and a Benadryl served with a cough medicine chaser. Two Sudafed help me breathe better but my hypersensitivity to the pseudoephedrine makes me feel like a Rhesus monkey on crack which tends to inhibit my ability to get a good night’s sleep.

    But in spite of my ill health, we managed to have a decent weekend full of activities. Mainly because Caroline’s Spring Break began when she got out of school on Friday and she wasn’t really game for my suggestion that we ought to just take a really long afternoon nap on Saturday.

    Saturday morning we headed down to El Mercado with Mimi and Bops to just look around. We weren’t really looking for anything in particular, but it’s fun to just go down there every now and then. Caroline was thrilled to discover they had a mechanical bull.

    They offered an assortment of cowboy hats for the kids to wear while they ride the bull, but I told them we’d just take the bull ride, not the free case of head lice. Except I think what I actually said was, “NO, NO, NO! DON’T PUT THAT HAT ON HER HEAD!” because I’d taken two Sudafed that morning and was in Rhesus monkey mode.

    On Sunday morning, P and Caroline went to church while I opted to stay in bed and count all the things that are fundamentally wrong with Daylight Savings Time and all this incessant falling back and springing forward of the clocks. Especially when you’ve spent half the night trying to breathe without resorting to taking another Sudafed.

    After they got home, we all seemed to feel that a nap was the way to go. Or maybe just P and I thought that. Caroline was more inclined to play her Nintendo DS and occasionally poke me and ask if I was ready to get up and do something fun.

    Finally, I gave in and we headed to Central Market because we were invited to a pizza party at the home of some friends and we were supposed to bring a few toppings. Let me add that the mom is a food stylist and a chef, so I didn’t really feel like some sad little pepperoni was going to do the trick. So we picked up some vegetables, basil, and fresh mozzarella cheese to go along with our sad pepperoni.

    We went to the pizza party and had the best time.

    Here’s Caroline rolling out her dough. In her new dress that we bought at El Mercado after the bull ride.

    And here she is showing me the dough. Which actually kind of messed up the dough and caused her to have to roll it out again.

    All the best pizza chefs make smiley faces out of pepperonis.

    Putting it into the oven.

    One of the dogs really wanted to eat Caroline’s pizza. He just knew it was a matter of time before a pepperoni fell.

    His tenacity paid off in spades when Caroline dropped a whole piece of pizza.

    This is the pizza I made. It was delicious. Seriously, I can’t really think about it or I’ll be sad that it’s all gone and worry that we didn’t really savor the time we had together.

    And this is the other dog. Her name is Mama.

    I’m a little bit in love with her even though I cut her head off in this picture. The blame lies squarely on my lack of photography skills, not a lack of love.

    Tomorrow (actually today if you’re reading this and it’s Monday) Caroline and I are headed out on a little Spring Break road trip. We’re just like Thelma and Louise. Except not really because that would be wrong. So we’re like a mother and daughter on a road trip who wish they had some sort of movie reference that tied in to wrap up this post in a neat little bow.

    Oh well.

  • Fashion Friday: Edition Nyquil is my friend

    It’s Day Three of Typhoid Watch 2010 and I’m not really any better. There was one point yesterday afternoon that some sort of front blew through and I turned into a human barometer. The pressure in my head was unbelievable and had it not been for a Route 44 Diet Coke from Sonic and three Motrin, I’m not sure I would have lived to tell about it.

    Yes, I should probably go to the doctor, but what if he gave me antibiotics to make me feel better? What would I complain about then? And how am I supposed to make a list for Fashion Friday if I’m busy getting medical attention?

    It’s about priorities. I have them.

    But this will still be the briefest post in Fashion Friday history. I just don’t have the strength to ramble.

    1. Women’s slub knit tiered skirts

    Old Navy has their skirts on sale for $15.00. A total bargain.

    The weather here has been gorgeous all week and it’s reminded me how much I love to be able to just throw on a skirt and a t-shirt during the warm/boiling hot months. Especially a skirt that only costs $15.00.

    2. Orange and grey flower pin

    I am in love with the flower pin. I saw this one on Etsy the other day and thought it was the perfect thing to add a little zip to a plain t-shirt. And when it comes to plain t-shirts, my personal favorite is the Timeless crewneck tee because they don’t shrink or fade. I still wear one that I bought five years ago.

    Oh, and if the flower pin isn’t your thing, then you might like this poppy necklace. How cute is that?

    3. Bordeaux Katherine top

    Remember last week when I mentioned that lace tops were in for Spring? I think this one would look so cute with jeans or dressed up with black pants or a skirt.

    4. Textured circle necklace

    Because accessories make everything better.

    5. Crinkle flower t-strap sandal

    I guess this year is the year of the flower. I love these sandals with the flower details.

    And I also like these rhinestone thong sandals in silver.

    6. Custom Chuck Taylors

    Did you know you can design your own pair of Converse? How fun is that?

    But if you don’t need the pressure of designing your own tennis shoes, then how about this Jack Purcell Gingham pair or this plaid pair?

    7. Hand embroidered top


    I am a big fan of Mexican embroidered tunics and tops for this time of year. So cute and fun.

    8. Embellished scoopneck tank

    I just think this is really pretty.

    9. Rosette detail cardigan

    While I love cardigans on other people, they just never seem to work for me. They make me feel like I’m playing dress up or something. I can’t explain it.

    However, they are very in for Spring and I think this one is really pretty.

    10. Beaded knit sheath dress

    I love that this is a pretty dress, yet it’s still just a knit dress. I think it would look so pretty with the silver sandals that I mentioned earlier.

    I also really like this applique jersey t-shirt dress. Pretty and comfortable. What a concept.

    That’s it for today.

    Y’all have a great Friday.

    For more fashion, you can visit Jo-Lynne. She’s talking about denim today.

  • Don’t fall in love with a dreamer or sponge rollers

    So I don’t really feel any better. On the upside, I don’t sound like Bea Arthur anymore. I guess everything has kind of settled in my chest and irritated my throat to the point that I’ve mellowed into something along the lines of Kim Carnes.

    I spent most of the day yesterday lying on the couch and complaining about how bad I felt at any given opportunity. The mailman acted like he wasn’t that interested (Please ma’am, just take your Hanna Andersson catalog and let me get back to my appointed rounds) but I think, somewhere deep down inside, he was interested in my analysis of the Spring time cold and how it relates to the changing weather and allergies.

    Listen. It’s hard to write a blog post when you don’t feel good and haven’t done much all day. What am I going to say? I washed our white towels today and bleached the heck out of them. I also used plenty of fabric softener even though P is bothered by my use of fabric softener for the towels and says I do it that way because of my ethnicity. I’m not sure what being Italian has to do with using fabric softener, but I can tell you what being German has to do with thinking your way is the best way even though it’s clearly not. And how it leads to towels that aren’t very soft and don’t smell like lavender.

    Of course he also complains that the monogram on the towels hinders their absorbency which kind of ruins his credibility on the entire matter.

    Anyway, as much as I would have liked to get all Nyquiled up and napped all day after I washed those towels, I had to make a trip to HEB because we were running low on all our essentials. I think by now we all know that means York Peppermint Patties, Nilla Wafers and Q-tips. And then I had psyche myself up for the biggest event of our day.

    The first soccer practice of the Spring season.

    That’s right. We’re coaching soccer again. The Mighty Rainbows are back together. Except we’ve changed our name to the Cheetah Girls and our colors are lavender and silver. I’m not sure of all the reasons for the change because I am not a six-year-old girl, but I think they felt that Rainbows didn’t really suit them anymore. It’s been three months and they’re bigger, stronger, and faster. They are cheetah-esque. Assuming that cheetahs turn cartwheels and spin in circles until they’re dizzy during soccer practice.

    I’d decided earlier in the day to make Sloppy Joes for dinner because it would be late after soccer and I needed to make something quick and easy that we’d all eat. But Caroline announced on the way home that she was no longer a fan of Sloppy Joes because they’re “too sloppy”. So she ended up eating Kraft mac and cheese because all the cold medicine had rendered me helpless to fight that battle.

    After bath time she asked if I’d please roll her hair in foam rollers. I’m not sure why she felt she needed curly hair for school the next day, but it’s so rare that she lets me anything to her hair other than just pulling it back in ponytail that I agreed to do it even though it was late and past her bedtime. I immediately regretted the ten minutes of my life I’ll never get back when she put her head on the pillow and began crying and said there was no way she could sleep in the rollers but how else was she going to look beautiful tomorrow?

    We took the rollers out as I promised her that I’d curl her hair with the curling iron in the morning. She tearfully asked if I’d sing her a lullaby, so I sang a round of Bette Davis Eyes because it would be a shame to waste this voice.

    Then P and I ate Sloppy Joes for dinner. I’d like to say they were delicious, but that would be a lie. They were Sloppy Joes. We didn’t even have any side dishes which was kind of a new low.

    And now I’m going to take some cough medicine and get some sleep. I’ve got a big morning of curling hair ahead of me and I need to be ready.

  • Oh good. A list.

    I woke up yesterday morning with a little bit of a scratchy throat that seems to be getting progressively worse. Either that or it’s my new normal to sound like Bea Arthur. Which, fingers crossed for that scenario because, SEXY.

    So since I’m probably coming down with a cold or perhaps typhoid fever, I’m just going to share a few quick thoughts and call it a night. Or a day. Or whatever.

    1. My friend Steph and I have had several conversations about appropriate, comfortable shorts for moms. I told her that I wasn’t sure that I even believed in shorts anymore. As if I could just will them out of existence because I can’t find a pair that serves as a midway point between hoochie and Mamaw. But then Gulley and I ran in Gap yesterday and discovered these boyfriend Bermuda shorts.

    In my opinion, they are the perfect pair of shorts. The right length, the right material, the right fit. Yes, Virginia, there is a pair of shorts.

    2. I’m reading Mennonite in a Little Black Dress by Rhoda Janzen right now. I can’t remember the last book that made me laugh out loud at least once in every chapter. I want to write like Rhoda Janzen when I grow up.

    And speaking of books, Kelly Corrigan has a new book out called Lift that I can’t wait to read. Her first book, The Middle Place, is one of my favorites of all time. I would also like to write like Kelly Corrigan when I grow up.

    3. I’m a little obsessed with tangelos right now. You know? The hybrid fruit that is both a tangerine and an orange? I’ve developed a two tangelo a day habit. Which, hooray for healthy snack. The problem is that they are terribly messy to eat. It kind of makes me feel like I need to eat them standing over the kitchen sink instead of enjoying the tangelo while sitting on my couch and watching American Idol.

    And you think you have problems.

    4. Speaking of American Idol, my personal favorite last night was Didi Benami. I was a little nervous about the whole Rhiannon thing because, dude, Fleetwood Mac. But it totally worked.

    I also thought Crystal Bowersox was great. And she was wearing some kind of rockin’ ring. (I wanted to tell you which hand she was wearing it on, but that would require that I know my right from my left while watching T.V. and knowing the picture is backwards.)

    5. A friend of mine called me on Monday and left me a message about a local boutique that was going out of business and having an incredible sale. I didn’t go by there because I was too busy searching the ends of my hair for split ends and developing my current case of typhoid fever. But I ran into my friend yesterday and she told me that the boutique had all their jeans on sale for $30. THIRTY DOLLARS.

    I am proud to announce that I bought a $160 pair of Joe’s Jeans for $30. It almost felt like I was stealing them. I don’t know why I think you care about this, but it was a big moment for me.

    ***Edited to add that the boutique is Galeana on North Main. I didn’t mention it originally because everything was pretty picked over by the time I got there. They had a bunch of jeans left in the 30-31 sizes, but not much in the smaller sizes remained.

    6. There is another GoodNites giveaway going on if you click over to my Giveaways page. Don’t miss the chance to win a $175 prize pack that includes an iPod and to learn how you can enter to win the $2500 grand prize.

    Y’all have a good day. I’ll just be sitting here sipping on some Theraflu.

  • The art of forgiveness

    I’m a little concerned right now because the fan has been running continuously on my Mac for at least ten minutes. Is it about to blow up? Is it too much to have all these various tabs open so I can attempt to write a blog post, play Bejeweled, check Twitter, and answer email all at the same time? In the words of one of my favorite tech nerds, it may all be too processor intensive.

    I’m not even sure I’m using that phrase in the proper context. It just makes me happy to say it.

    Anyway, let’s all say a prayer for my computer because it kind of sounds like it’s circling the drain.

    Last night we were all sitting at the table eating dinner together. We were having chalupas. Which may sound boring and uninspired until I tell you that I made the chalupas from scratch. If you consider “by scratch” to mean that I deep fried the corn tortillas I bought at HEB because, come on, do I seem like someone who grinds her own corn to make tortillas?

    As we took turns talking about our day, Caroline began to tell us a story about a girl in her class who wasn’t very nice to a boy in their class and all the ways that this was very wrong. But as I listened to the story, the details started to sound very familiar to a story she’d told me a few weeks ago, so I asked, “Did this happen today?”

    “No. It happened about a few weeks ago.”

    At that point, P decided to seize the opportunity to impart a life lesson and said, “You know what? Sometimes people make mistakes and do things they shouldn’t do. And when that happens, we need to forgive them and quit bringing up something they did a long time ago. That’s what God does for us. He forgives us when we do something wrong and forgets about it, so we need to do that same thing for others.”

    She looked at him for a few seconds as she absorbed this bit of information and replied, “Yeah, but that’s not really working out for me right now.”

  • Where I confirm all the reasons I’m not a film critic

    Either we need to start coming up with more exciting activities for our weekends or I need to look into the possibility of writing fiction. Because our weekend involved the following activities in no particular order by popularity or frequency:

    Eating
    Sleeping
    Catching up on Real Housewives of both the O.C. and N.Y.
    Eating
    Buying a shower gift at Pottery Barn
    Going to a wedding shower
    Eating
    Sleeping
    Eating
    Going to church
    Eating
    Sleeping
    Watching T.V.

    Look. Don’t be jealous. I can’t help that this is the kind of excitement that rules my life.

    At one point we had big plans to take the training wheels of Caroline’s bike, medicate ourselves, and attempt to teach her to ride without them. But when we came out of church on Sunday morning, it was raining. Actually, rain isn’t really the right word. It was more like that annoying light mist that I find to be totally non-committal, the kind that makes you feel silly for carrying an umbrella even though you know your freshly straightened hair will be shot all to heck without one.

    A few weeks ago, I noticed that The Black Stallion was coming on and I recorded it for Caroline. I couldn’t remember the entire movie because it had been thirty years since I’d last seen it and I can’t even remember to buy more paper towels at the grocery store. When it’s written on a list. That I’m holding in my hands. Anyway, since it was a rainy day, we ended up watching it and she fell a little bit in love with it. In fact, there’s a scene where the little boy feeds The Black some sugar cubes which eventually led us to HEB to purchase some sugar cubes of our very own because she had no idea a thing of such pure goodness existed and wanted to experience it for herself.

    She also wanted to ride a black Arabian horse across a beach at full speed. But you can’t buy that at HEB.

    And not to beat a dead horse (I apologize.), but while we were in HEB we ran into a friend who was desperately looking for Jello brand sugar-free pudding and all he could find was the HEB brand. He may be one of the most frugal people I know, but he still wanted his brand name Jello and I don’t blame him. I may write a letter to HEB. And Bill Cosby.

    I didn’t watch the Oscars from start to finish last night because I believe in the power of the DVR and its ability to fast forward through the awards for best lighting, but I watched the highlights. I think Cameron Diaz and Sandra Bullock get my vote for best dressed. In fact, Sandra Bullock’s hair makes me want to look into getting some type of high-shine treatment done. I don’t know if such a thing exists, but my word at the shiny, sleek hair. I want to go to there. Oh, and her speech where she thanked her mother? Did me in.

    Speaking of things that did me in, was it just me or did the tribute to John Hughes make you a little bit teary? It was like watching my high school years flash before my eyes. I watched all those clips and thought how every one of those movies fall into the category of movies I will stop and watch every time they’re on T.V.

    And then I started thinking of other movies I will stop and watch every time they’re on T.V. and came up with this list that is definitely not comprehensive, but rather an adequate representation of my taste in cinema. This may be the reason that I’ve never been asked to be a member of the Academy. Well, this list and the fact that no one in Hollywood has a clue that I exist.

    1. The Philadelphia Story – the version with Katherine Hepburn and Cary Grant

    2. Gone with the Wind

    3. Rocky I, II, III, IV – I have no explanation, but it’s true.

    4. Sweet Home Alabama

    5. Coalminer’s Daughter – I can recite every line from memory.

    6. Little Women – I believe I’ve mentioned this before.

    7. Grease 1 and 2 – I should be ashamed to own up to 2, but Cool Rider redeems it.

    8. Bridget Jones’ Diary – Colin Firth.

    9. Best in Show – So many levels of genius in one movie.

    10. Lonesome Dove – Technically it’s a miniseries, but it’s pure greatness. It’s the reason I have a large crush on Robert Duvall.

    So what movies will you stop and watch every time they’re on? And whose dress did you like the best last night? And were you kind of happy that Avatar didn’t win? I’m sure it was a lovely movie, but I’m not a big fan of James Cameron or blue sci-fi people. Forgive me.

    On a totally different note, you need to go read Shaun Groves’ post, The Parable of the Zebra.