Year: 2011

  • Baby, it’s cold outside

    Y’all.

    It is so cold.

    I’m going to bookmark this post so I can look at it in July when I am totally over the heat and begin to believe I will never feel cold again.

    Last night we all woke up at 5:30 a.m. (yes, I realize that’s morning to some people, but not to me) when the electricity went out. It was immediately obvious because our house was suddenly dead silent. P told me to call CPS to let them know the power was out and so I began the process of trying to search the Google for the phone number for CPS while half asleep. It went as well as you might expect. And was totally worth it after I spent the next thirty minutes getting a busy signal.

    And then the power came back on and it was pretty much time to be up for the day. Aces.

    P left to drop Caroline off at school and I headed to our church for Bible study right after I stopped at Starbucks for a bucket of caffeine in hot beverage form. All the women were talking about the power outages. One of them even let us know that she’d heated her curling iron using her gas range. You have got to admire that kind of commitment to hair excellence.

    Anyway, it was at Bible study that I discovered our power had gone out due to a mandate by the blah, blah, blah commission for rolling blackouts to preserve energy. About that time P texted me to let me know our power was out again. I called him to tell him about the rolling blackouts. I’d share his response here but I think there are some impressionable youngsters that read this blog. The short, family-friendly version was something along the lines of “I don’t know why I pay for a service every month if I can’t count on it to heat my home during the coldest days of the year. Isn’t this America?”

    The power went out about three or four more times throughout the day. The irony was I was finally able to live a version of “The Blizzard” episode of Little House on the Prairie, which has long been a dream of mine. And I’ll tell you, I don’t know how those pioneers did it because I’m pretty sure they didn’t have a Snuggie or Smart Wool socks. Or an iPhone so they could continue to check the Twitter and play Words With Friends.

    I salute you, Ma and Pa Ingalls. I salute you.

    Here are a few quick bullets before I go put on another pair of socks and find an additional blanket.

    1. The weathermen are officially predicting between 1-3 inches of snow for Thursday night through Friday morning. If they are wrong, then I’m sending Caroline down to their television studios to confront them in person for sitting on their throne of weather lies. Hell hath no fury like a seven-year-old who thinks she’s about to see snow and ends up denied.

    2. Some of you may remember that we got a new front door a while back. No, we still don’t have the promised piece of replacement glass for the window. We also don’t have any weather-stripping because he was going to do that when he installed the glass.

    When I got home yesterday, P had taken our winter weather precautions up a notch.

    For a free estimate on your very own Redneck Weatherstripping, just drop us an email.

    3. When I went to HEB the other day to prepare for WINTER STORM 2011, I was delighted, DELIGHTED, to find these.

    I hate to reveal my propensity to be a bit of a food snob, but one of my very favorite culinary treats when I was growing up was a chili-cheese sandwich made by my Nanny served with a side of taco flavor Doritos.

    You may be thinking, “What is a chili-cheese sandwich?” and that makes me sad for you. A chili-cheese sandwich is Wolf chili from a can with a slice of cheddar cheese all melted together and served between two pieces of buttered wheat bread.

    Over the years, I have attempted to recreate the sandwich with varying degrees of success, but it hasn’t been the same because they discontinued the taco flavor Doritos years ago. But now, OH NOW, my life is complete. Albeit in limited edition form. I can totally replicate one of my favorite childhood meals.

    It’s too bad I can’t replicate my childhood metabolism.

    4. On a television front, I read that NBC will start airing the final season of Friday Night Lights on April 15th. However, that will be 10 days after the entire last season is released on DVD so you could just buy the season and have yourself a viewing marathon. Which may be what I decide to do even though I’m so torn between excitement over seeing what happens and sorrow over watching the end of Coach and Tami Taylor. I love them so.

    Also, I have decided that Brad the Bachelor reminds me of Forrest Gump. “I may not be a smart man, Jenny, but I know what love is”. I’m not sure what it is but he sounds like he’s reading off cue cards.

    Finally, I continue to love this season of American Idol. I would like to know what products J. Lo and Steven Tyler use on their hair.

    5. My feet are cold.

    I just thought you might want to know.

    Wishing you all a great day filled with electricity and taco flavor Doritos,

    Melanie

  • Singing in the rain

    It is 25 degrees here right now. I realize that’s what some of you northern folks refer to as Spring, but down here that is flat out cold. Like two pairs of socks and break out my seldom worn long-johns kind of cold. Or, better yet, stay inside by the fire where it’s warm and the hot chocolate flows like milk and honey cold.

    Last night I slept in Caroline’s room. I’ve actually been sleeping in there every night since she was sick last week because we have a loose system of sleeping arrangements around here. We basically go with whatever bed seems the most comfortable and has the least amount of snorers and/or coughers. Which I guess, technically would be P’s bed right now because I have contracted Caroline’s cough and she’s still congested and we are just a noisy, wheezy pair. I don’t think P is sad that we’re in exile in the other part of the house.

    Anyway, I woke up about 3:00 a.m. when the cold front started blowing in. The wind was unbelievably loud and the trees outside her window were making a huge racket. And then the birds started to go bananas. They were chirping and tweeting and singing. It sounded like there were a hundred of them outside her window.

    I wondered if maybe a nest had gotten blown down in the wind and figured they would quiet down in a minute. Then the rain started to pour and they continued to tweet and sing. I’d never heard anything like it. I laid there in bed and began to wax poetic about how the little sparrows (or whatever they happened to be) were presenting such a great analogy of life. I began to compose a blog post in my head about the importance of remembering to sing even during the storms of life and how they are such a beautiful picture of trusting God with all that comes our way.

    And then I drifted back off to sleep.

    Until Caroline woke me up about thirty minutes later to let me know that our sound machine had somehow been switched from the sound of Rainfall to Tropical Rainforest.

    Which would explain why the birds were still chirping.

    And, also, the monkeys.

    Best I can tell, the power went out for a brief moment when the wind started to howl. And the sound machine automatically resets itself to Tropical Rainforest anytime it’s disconnected from a power source.

    I’m going to blame the Benadryl that I took right before bed as the reason it didn’t occur to me that you generally don’t hear the call of the Keel-Billed Toucan in South Texas.

    However, I still maintain that it’s important to sing through the storms of life.

    Amen.

  • All the leaves are brown and the sky is gray

    Well, the weathermen are saying that we’re about to get hit with the coldest weather of the season. AND, there is even talk of snow. Or at least snow flurries. I realize that many of y’all have had your fill of snow this year, but I would welcome snow with open arms because we’ve had approximately between zero and none inches of snow. Nary a flake.

    But I’ll believe it when I see it because our meteorologists tend to get a little bit excited at the thought of an Arctic Blast. They even originally predicted we might have some snow by tomorrow, but by the next night they recanted with a “there have been rumors of snow but they are false” at which point P talked out loud to the T.V. and said, “YOU’RE THE ONE STARTING THE RUMORS”.

    I also made the mistake of mentioning the possibility of snow to Caroline and now she is convinced she needs a snowsuit. Bless her heart.

    In other non-weather related news, I cannot thank you enough for all the book suggestions yesterday. I seriously started to get stressed out that we won’t have time to read them all before her childhood is over. Clearly I don’t have enough things to worry about.

    Also, while I was out yesterday afternoon, I noticed that our entire neighborhood smells like skunk. I don’t know why that made me feel better, but it did. Stinky misery loves company.

    Lastly, I’m going to leave you with a few pictures I took of Caroline playing in the leaves last week on one of the days she was home sick from school. What can I say? The weather was gorgeous, the yard was full of leaves, and it just seemed right. Croup or no croup.

    If you want to really make these pictures come alive, just imagine a little voice yelling, “MAKE THE PILE BIGGER! KEEP RAKING, MAMA! KEEP RAKING!”

    And that’s why I sent her back to school the next day.

  • Walmart, basketball, skunks: three words that sum this up

    There is so much I could write at this moment. Actually, that’s not true. I have very little to write about right now because we had a pretty non-eventful weekend. But I could write paragraph upon paragraph about the smell of skunk I smell outside my window right now. It is horrendous.

    This is the third time this week that I’ve been inundated with eau de frightened skunk. P says it’s because they’re mating right now. I’m all for love, but I wish they’d take their business elsewhere. Far, far away. Also, and it seems the skunk population should be aware of this, I live IN THE CITY.

    But enough about the skunks. On Friday I went to eat lunch with Caroline and stayed at the school because they were having a little program and an award ceremony. Caroline received an award and I told her that we could go pick out a new Wii game after school as a reward for a great report card and for the award. Which is how we ended up at Walmart.

    It wasn’t my first choice. We initially went to Target, but she had her heart set on Epic Mickey and they were all sold out. So we went to Walmart where I had the chance to renew my vows to avoid the Walmart at all costs. Especially on a Friday afternoon.

    Then we came home and she immediately wanted to play her new game. And this is where I have to admit that I do not understand these new high tech video games. The whole playing board is so dark and I don’t understand. I DON’T UNDERSTAND. Where is Mickey going and what is he trying to do?

    Fortunately, Caroline was able to do a google search and find a helpful site that explained the game. I didn’t even know she knew how to work the google. She has officially passed me by.

    On Saturday she had another basketball game and scored her first basket of the season. I wish I had it on video because she was just SO proud of herself and skipped all the way back down the court while looking in the stands to make sure we all saw it happen. It made me so happy. Of course I’m just impressed that she doesn’t put her hands over her head because she’s scared the ball might hit her which might be the way her mama always played the game.

    Later that night we had some friends over for dinner and then on Sunday morning we went to church. And that pretty much sums up the high points of the weekend.

    I told you. UNEVENTFUL.

    And now I’m going to make an awkward transition to ask a question because I know y’all will have some helpful suggestions. Gulley and I had a long conversation yesterday about good books for the kids to read or for us to read to them. Specifically, we were talking about Caroline and Jackson (He just turned 9). It’s not that we don’t think Will should read, but he’s five and we’ve crossed that bridge before.

    (I also feel like I need to disclose that our entire conversation wasn’t about books. We also discussed hair, a shirt I saw recently at Charming Charlie’s, the cold front coming in on Tuesday, something dead inside her wall, the frisky skunks at my house, chicken pot pie and twice baked potatoes. Clearly we have very stimulating and interesting lives.)

    Anyway, Caroline and I just finished The Magician’s Nephew and have big plans to read through the entire Narnia series. And I can’t tell you how fun it was to watch Caroline put the pieces together about how the first book ties into The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe. But then what? I need to plan ahead. I want us to have reading goals and ambitions.

    So, I’d love for y’all to throw out suggestions for great books for second and third grade boys and/or girls to either read alone or have read to them. What books have your kids loved the most?

    Thank you. May your yard remain free of skunks looking for love in all the wrong places.

  • Fashion Friday: Edition now with 100% more giveaways

    Wow. How boring was yesterday’s post? When I looked at it again it was very reminiscent of Will Ferrell in Old School.

    “Well, um, actually a pretty nice little Saturday, we’re going to go to Home Depot. Yeah, buy some wallpaper, maybe get some flooring, stuff like that. Maybe Bed, Bath, & Beyond, I don’t know, I don’t know if we’ll have enough time.”

    In case you’ve been dying to know how yesterday turned out, I’ll tell you. I forgot to buy paper towels and milk. And by “forgot”, I mean that I didn’t feel like going to the store. I did, however, make it to Nordstrom and feel confident about my decision to go with a pair of rainboots in green. I know you’re so relieved.

    But enough about that because I have BIG EXCITEMENT today. BIG EXCITEMENT. It’s another giveaway. A fashion-related giveaway.

    The nice people at Ruche, which is one of my favorite online stores and purveyor of all things darling, contacted me and said they would love to give away the uptown elegance red cashmere scarf that I featured a few weeks ago.

    But wait!

    There’s more!

    (I’m sorry if I’ve led you to believe I’m about to offer a set of Ginsu knives.)

    They’d also like to add this fly away home indie necklace in sterling. Which I didn’t feature but I totally would have if I’d seen it.

    To enter the giveaway, you’ll need to click over to my giveaway page and leave a comment there for a chance to win all the cuteness.

    And, oh, I had big plans to do another scarf video tutorial about how to wear an infinity scarf, reminiscent of the one I did a few years back. But then Caroline got the croup and I have been exhausted and it just seemed like a lot of effort to put on makeup and look presentable. I realize we’re all friends here but no one really needs to be subjected to the sleep-deprived version of me sans makeup. It might make children cry. Or cause them to make comments about the lady with the mustache on the internet.

    So, here are a few cute things I’ve seen this week.

    1. tribal earrings

    Well these just look like spring.

    2. up in the heirloom top

    I love this. So delicate and feminine. It would look great with jeans and cowboy boots.

    3. tie-back cross-front jersey dress

    I was leery of this dress but I tried it on yesterday and actually really liked it. I don’t think I’d wear it by itself, but I’d definitely wear it over leggings. I like the gray.

    4. perfect rib-knit tanks

    I’m such a fan of the Old Navy tank top. They’re cheap and come in an array of cute colors. And this year they have some fun patterns as well, including a stripe that I LOVED. But I can’t find a picture of it online.

    5. Aerosoles Mezzotint boots

    Several people have emailed me recently about boots. It’s so hard to suggest a pair of boots because boots are kind of like a husband. You don’t really know exactly what you’re looking for until you find it and then you may think it looks different than what you thought you wanted, but then you try them out and think MAN, THAT IS COMFORTABLE and maybe he won’t continue to ask me to try to purchase Zyrtec D even though there’s a good possibility I’m going to get arrested for manufacturing meth.

    What was I talking about?

    Oh, the boots. These are cute and they come in black and brown and they’re on sale and they’re Aerosoles so I bet they’re comfortable.

    6. tanbitha cowl neck sweater

    Something about this appeals to me. It looks cozy.

    7. winter cabin sweater leggings

    I nearly featured these last week but they were sold out. But now they’re back and I just think they are the cutest. I would ADORE a pair of these with some sort of sweater dress and tall boots that don’t ask me to go buy Zyrtec D.

    8. tiered ruffle tanks

    A ruffled tank is just a great piece. It can be worn alone or under a cardi or a jacket for a little bit of flair. Love it.

    That’s it for this week.

    Don’t forget about the giveaway! Click here to read more about it.

    Y’all have a great Friday.

  • Just another day in paradise

    I am so happy to report that Caroline is much, much better. Ultimately, I think old school Benadryl helped her more than anything. I don’t know if it’s because of the antihistamine properties or the fact that it knocked her stone cold out, but I’ll take it. She took a turn for the better just in time because she was beginning to enjoy her ill health a little too much as evidenced by the multiple forts she asked me to build while she laid on the couch and watched movies.

    So it’s back to school for her and back to whatever it is I normally do around here for me. Which means I have a big day ahead of me because we’re out of paper towels and a little low on milk. I also have tentative plans to go to Michael’s to pick out a frame for my new map of Texas and perhaps Nordstrom to check out their selection of rainboots because I’m having a dreadful time deciding on the color I want by just looking online and I’ve decided I don’t care that the weathermen are saying we’re in the midst of a drought.

    In other equally unexciting news, I’ve been inspired to add Jenny From the Block to my Couch to 5K playlist because I am genuinely enjoying her on American Idol and I’m not fooled by the rocks that she’s got. Now I just need to make myself get out and, you know, run.

    Other than that, I’m processing the realization that I may not have been eating meat all those years I enjoyed crispy beef tacos from Taco Bell. I knew the hot sauce could take the tarnish off a penny courtesy of serious boredom in college, but it never occurred to me that I wasn’t eating real meat. All I know is it’s the best water, isolated oat product, wheat oats, soy lecithin, maltodextrin, anti-dusting agent, autolyzed yeast extract, modified corn starch with sodium phosphate I’ve ever tasted.

    And so that’s what’s going on here. How about you? Feel free to share with the group. Or with me. Whatever.