Month: March 2012

  • It’s in the bag. And by “it”, I mean mildew.

    Well.

    We have now been away from home since Friday. And I’ll tell you my biggest concern at this point. Other than the laundry and massive grocery store trip that awaits my arrival home.

    There is a 99.6% that I’m growing black mold in my purse.

    On Sunday we went to a baseball game at the new Blue Bell Park at Olsen Field to watch the Aggies. And it had been raining to beat the band ALL WEEKEND. But I decided the ground under the bleachers where we were sitting couldn’t be that wet because why would it be wet after forty-six inches of rain? I guess I also believed that my genuine pleather bag was waterproof.

    But it’s not. I picked it up and everything in it was soaked. Two packs of Eclipse gum were totally ruined. Not to mention that my lipsticks were all very damp.

    The smartest course of action would have probably been to dump everything out and let it dry. But no one has ever accused me of doing the smartest thing and so I didn’t. I reasoned that I planned to throw out the purse as soon as I switch to a summer purse on Easter. However, I failed to really comprehend that Easter is still a month away.

    And now my purse is a health-hazard.

    I’m not sure what I’m supposed to do.

    Anyway, Gulley and I loaded up the kids on Friday afternoon in the rain and the cold to venture out for some Spring Break fun. Even though it’s hard to embrace Spring when it’s 50 degrees and raining outside since that’s what people who live in South Texas call WINTER.

    We made a quick stop to load up on road trip snacks and everyone chose candy. Except for Will since he’s not allowed to have candy on road trips anymore now that we’ve discovered the bulk of his carsickness is caused by eating an entire bag of Gummy Bears by himself. So he chose Cheesy Pringles instead.

    Caroline and I planned to leave Bryan for Houston on Monday so we had to take two cars. So the kids all decided to ride with me for the first part of the trip. I’m still not entirely sure why since it’s a universal truth that Gulley is more fun than me, but they must have forgotten that. And I’m glad they did because I was able to question them all about their hopes and dreams. And steal a few of Will’s Cheesy Pringles.

    I discovered that Caroline would like to live on a ranch someday. Jackson hopes to grow up and play professional baseball. And Will. Will writes songs in his head all the time. He’s currently working on a song called “Just Do It” that’s going to be his first big hit. He just needs to find someone who can rap really fast to do the middle part. But he sang the slow part for me and I think it has promise.

    After he makes a bunch of money (like maybe twenty or thirty kajillion dollars) he’s going to buy a bunch of alligators for Caroline to keep at her ranch. Which is what I’m pretty sure J.Lo bought for her friends after she made it big and explains why she wrote that song about not being fooled by the crocs that she’s got, she’s still Jenny from the block.

    (I know. Crocs aren’t alligators. But how could I walk away from that?)

    We also listened to that Party Rockers song about sixty-eight times on the way and I’m afraid I’ll never get it out of my head. It’s also when I discovered that I’d slept wrong on my neck and was moving like I was Joan Cusack in Sixteen Candles. I’m almost back to full neck rotation at this point but it was dicey there for a while. Only my torso moved.

    By the time we got to Honey and Big’s house it was late and we were tired. We ate some pizza, visited a little bit and all went to bed with big dreams of going to watch the Aggies play baseball the next day.

    So you can imagine our disappointment when we woke up to a torrential rainstorm the next morning. Fortunately Big eased our pain with enough Shipley’s donuts and kolaches to feed thirty-seven people. Then Gulley and I went to pick up Nena so she could spend the afternoon with us.

    Nena.

    Y’all. Nena is a miracle. She had heart bypass surgery less than two weeks ago and is back home and doing great. In fact, she’s not even sure she needed that surgery. She isn’t even convinced she had a heart attack because she had no pain. NO PAIN. Even though the official EMT report showed that she said she felt heavy pressure. But she’s sure they made that up because she doesn’t remember feeling heavy pressure and is sure she didn’t say that. WHY WOULD SHE SAY THAT?

    But she told me the whole story. She’d just eaten lunch in the dining hall. And was walking back to her apartment and her feet felt weird. So she took an aspirin and laid down. But then still felt funny and pushed her medic alert bracelet. And I wouldn’t even BELIEVE how quick they showed up.

    Honey said all the doctors and nurses at the hospital adored Nena and the cardiologist even stopped her in the hall the day before Nena left to go home and said, “I checked on your mother and asked her if she was feeling okay. She asked me if there was any way I could bring her a trashy magazine.”

    So Honey had to explain that meant Nena wanted the latest National Enquirer because how are you supposed to recover from major surgery if you can’t guess which celebrity has been caught with all their cellulite hanging out at the beach? And who better to bring it to you than your heart surgeon?

    Gulley and I knew Nena was definitely on the road to recovery when she announced she had a purse that was way too big for her and she wanted Gulley to have it. Nena has always shown her love by offering various extra items she happens to have lying around. And so she handed Gulley a shiny patent mustard-yellow purse.

    Of course now that I’m catching a whiff of my purse from the corner of the room, I’m kind of wishing she’d had two.

  • (In)RL conference

    I know I said that I’d update y’all on the road trip today. And I totally meant it. But I forgot that today is my day to make sure you know about the in(RL) Conference.

    And, trust me, you want to know about it.

    It stands for In (Real Life) Conference and it’s hosted by the women at (in)Courage. It’s all about a chance to go beyond just blogs and connect in real life on April 27-28th. Because as great as the internet is, we all need a chance to be with real people and live life outside the computer.

    You can view a video with more information here.

    You can read more about it here.

    You can register here.

    When else can you have all the fun of a conference without having to get on an airplane where you might be wedged uncomfortably between two strangers while you eat a small serving of honey-roasted peanuts?

    Speaking of real life, I have a little girl who’s waiting for me to get off the computer.

    I promise tomorrow will include a full recap of the trip thus far.

    If I can figure out how to reduce it something less than a novel.

  • Spring break

    On Friday afternoon we loaded up these three and hit the open road.

    And I’ll tell you all about it tomorrow.

    But right now I’m still in the midst of all the fun.

    And recovering from losing an hour on Saturday night.

  • Fashion Friday: Edition I’m so glad it’s Spring Break

    You know what dawned on me as I worked on Fashion Friday this week?

    I haven’t written a post about trends for Spring and Summer. And so I thought about doing that this week but then decided I didn’t have that kind of time. Gulley and I are hitting the road with the kids tomorrow and I have to finish doing laundry and pack and take enough nerve pills to survive the trip.

    But I will tell you that one day this week I wore skinny jeans with a navy and white striped shirt and silver flip-flops. I was a little self-concious all day because I always worry that the skinny jean combined with a shoe that’s not a boot can create an optical illusion in which the wearer resembles an ice cream cone.

    I’m trying to move past this. But I think it’s rooted in the fact that I last wore skinny jeans with flats when I was twelve years old and had no hips to speak of.

    Anyway, I was finally feeling a little more secure about the whole thing when P got home from work, looked at me and asked if I had a little white cap to go with my sailor outfit.

    Some people just don’t understand the trends. Nautical. It’s a trend.

    Here are a few cute things I’ve found this week.

    1. fold over jersey skirt

    It was love at first sight when I saw this skirt at Old Navy. And then it even looked cute on. So I bought it.

    I’m still not entirely sure what I’m going to wear it with. Maybe a white t-shirt and denim jacket. Or maybe a bright orange or yellow tank. Or maybe even emerald green. I’m not sure. I need to play around with different options.

    2. elegant errands top

    This is such a great top. Perfect with shorts or white jeans during the summer. Or you could wear it under a jacket while the weather is still cool.

    3. athena sandals

    Such cute sandals. And they come in an array of colors.

    4. chambray shirt

    Even though I never dreamed I’d be back to shopping for anything chambray at this stage in my life, I would really like to find a cute chambray shirt. It’s the perfect thing to wear with all those colored jeans that I don’t own yet but am planning to buy at some point.

    5. linda tunic

    This would be so cute with white skinny jeans and turquoise accessories.

    6. big buddha katy tote

    This purse is great. And it comes in so many bright colors.

    7. sandra straw fedora

    I don’t know that I can pull off a fedora. Much less, a straw fedora. But I’m tempted to try it.

    8. tea party clutch

    I’ve seen a lot of cute summery clutch purses recently. I really like this one.

    9. turquoise and gold scale earrings

    I ran in World Market the other day to look for a lamp and to check out their Easter decorations. But then I heard the accessories calling to me. And so I answered. And found these darling turquoise earrings that I will love forever.

    10. manngo woven sandal

    There are so many cute wedge sandals out that I can hardly stand it. I don’t know how I’d ever choose which ones I like the best, but these are a definite contender.

    That’s it for today.

    Anchors aweigh, my friends.

    And have a great Friday.

  • Popeye would have been a big fan

    I still haven’t bought a Ninja blender.

    I just wanted y’all to know.

    But I am planning to buy one. At some point in the future. Maybe around the same time I get slipcovers made for the couch and paint my walls gray.

    Even with my blender technical difficulties though, I have managed to persevere and make smoothies almost every single morning. And since several of you asked what I put in my smoothies, I thought I’d give you my (very rough, very inexact) recipe.

    Here it is:

    1/2 cup greek yogurt (I know I said I can’t stand it, but it works in a smoothie and it has a lot of protein)

    1/2 cup orange juice

    a good handful of baby spinach leaves (I realize this isn’t precise, but I just grab a bunch and throw them in)

    1 tablespoon of ground flax seed (This is supposed to really good for you)

    1 cup of a mix of frozen berries, bananas, peaches

    Blend it all together. Drink it.

    I realize the addition of spinach may throw you off. I was sketchy on the spinach at first because I couldn’t believe it wouldn’t make the whole thing taste like, well, spinach. But the berries totally cover up the spinach taste.

    And so I get all the benefits of eating spinach but without having to actually chew spinach in salad form. Not to mention the fruit and the flax seed.

    The key to disguising the spinach (if you need to forget about it or don’t want your kids to know) is to use blackberries, raspberries, or blueberries as your main fruit. They are dark enough that they hide the green color of the spinach.

    Even though sometimes I don’t put enough in and then the whole thing is kind of a brown color. But it still tastes delicious.

    The only thing that would make it better would be if I had a blender that actually turned on and off.

    But, like Scarlett O’Hara, I’ll think about that tomorrow.

  • I believe this is a lovely shade of procrastination

    Yesterday morning I had to take the stay wag to the Volvo dealership to figure out my blinker/tail light situation. And P also pointed out that the speaker on the driver’s side door was out. I can guarantee that I could have driven my car for the next 864 years and never noticed that.

    So I dropped Caroline off at school and drove to the dealership. Honestly, I was glad to have something to get me up and out of the house first thing in the morning. I’m not sure what happened but I think the process of writing the book turned me into more of an introvert than I was before. In fact, I told a friend yesterday that I’m one step away from being a hermit. That step being growing a long beard.

    (Fortunately, I am being proactive about the long beard. I used my Sally Hansen hair removal on my upper lip last night and, judging by the way it burned like a fire in the Sahara desert, I believe I am now mustache-free.)

    The problem is that my hermit-like ways combined with a week of having a sick child have made me lethargic. On Monday I even contemplated going to see the doctor to get checked for mono. But then I realized I don’t think I have mono so much as I’m just ready for Spring Break and a little break from the routine.

    Anyway, after I dropped my car off and got the loaner car, I thought I’d stop by Joann’s Fabrics to check out the prices on white duck fabric. You’ll be relieved to know this isn’t fabric printed with ducks as I once thought, but just a sturdy white fabric that you use to make slipcovers. Because I’ve decided I want to get white slipcovers made for our couch.

    I’ve also decided that I want to paint the living room, dining room, and kitchen a soft shade of gray. I realize that this will make the third time I’ve painted my kitchen in the last two years, but I really think this could be the one. Which explains a lot about how I dated back in my single days.

    It really is Pinterest’s fault. All this obsessing about how I want to redecorate the house. And the fact that we have a T.V. sitting on my antique church pew because it doesn’t fit anywhere else. My whole plan started with just wanting some built-in cabinetry but has extended to the couch and the walls and new throw pillows and pictures for the walls.

    Of course all I’ve done so far is spend more time on Pinterest pinning a bunch of rooms that appeal to me. Because that is SO MUCH EASIER than actually buying several gallons of paint and hiring a carpenter and having the upholsterer come out and pick up my couch cushions.

    Here are a few of my favorite idea rooms. Because I would like you to join me in my obsession.

    Source: houzz.com via Melanie on Pinterest

    Source: houzz.com via Melanie on Pinterest

     

    Yes. I would like some combination of all those rooms in my living room and dining room that currently look nothing like any of these photos. Well, except for the antlers. The antelope of the Lord ensures that we have the antlers covered.

    And P has already nixed the tufted leather ottoman as a replacement for our current coffee table because he thinks it’s a dumb idea and we’ll just end up with a bunch of food and stuff spilled in all those tufts. To which I proposed a tray to set upon the ottoman. But he would rather continue to place one of my decorative pillows on our wooden coffee table every night and use it as a makeshift ottoman.

    This thrills me to no end.

    All this to say that Joann’s Fabrics wasn’t open yet so I went to Target instead and looked at their decorative housewares and felt overwhelmed and just went home. Actually, I stopped by Old Navy first and bought a cute skirt. Then I went home. To be a hermit and contemplate growing a long beard.

    Then I went to lunch with Gulley and vowed to get out of my hermit-like rut. I am ready to re-enter the real world. And to buy paint. And see about getting some built-ins made.

    Although I’m still overwhelmed because what comes first? Should I paint first? Which means that none of my furniture will really match the paint until I get slipcovers made? Or do we do the built-ins first? Which means that I’ll have to try to paint around them?

    It kind of makes my head hurt.

    And so I maybe I’ll do what I’ve done for the last two months.

    I’ll just think about it some more.

    Which, in the end, probably makes P happy because it’s free. And means he still has a few more months of putting his feet on my decorative throw pillows.