Whoop Whoop Rangers!

I have vivid memories as a little girl spending the night at my paternal grandmother's house. I lay in the guest bedroom just down the hall from the kitchen -- unless she let me make a pallet on the couch -- boy was that a treat. I loved sleeping on the couch! I loved the heavy down pillows she had, too. They always seemed to mold perfectly to my head and make my rest ever so peaceful. I generally had some pink and white striped sheets that I hand-picked from the linen closet. Those were generally topped with one of her crocheted afghans. How I admired her prowess with a crochet needle! She tried to teach me to crochet many times but I was either too young or too wiggly to learn to do much more than make a huge chain. I did make the best chains known to man, however.

The nights I stayed in the guest bedroom there's also another memory that anyone in my family can attest to -- if the Texas Rangers were playing baseball my Pawpaw would be watching it. And, if he couldn't watch it, he would listen to it. On the nights when the latter took place, Pawpaw would be laying in his bed down the hall listening to them on his old alarm clock-radio. The announcers voice would almost echo off the hardwood floors and empty walls. The house was small in size (about 1100 square feet so you really couldn't hide what you were listening to, anyway.) It was an AM station so it was crackly. I know he was tired or he wouldn't have turned it so loud as to try to keep the neighbors awake. I heard every pop fly, double and triple play until I dozed off. So, I guess everyone in that house shared a special connection with the Texas Rangers because of him.

I remember as a little girl him taking me to the games. The man lived for the Rangers' games. I remember the old ball park where we'd sit in the outfield. You could bring your own snacks in at the time... sometimes he'd bring a big bag of popcorn. Others he'd bring his own cooler of drinks. Regardless, we were fed and we had a great time.

On one occasion when he had a big bag of popcorn a hit was made out to the outfields... HOME RUN RANGERS! There were kids scurrying all around his feet looking for the ball. The gentleman behind Pawpaw tapped him on the shoulder to notify him that the ball -- it was in his bag of popcorn! Pawpaw reached in and there it was! He proudly displayed all the balls he got from Rangers games in the trophy shelving that hung in their living room. Good times. Good times.

Well, last night the Rangers did something they have never done before. The Texas Rangers made their way into the World Series. I think my Pawpaw would have been pleased. I'm just sad that he wasn't here to enjoy it. I would have loved taking him to one of the World Series games.

So, I dedicate this post to my Pawpaw--J.C. Wesson, a sometimes cantankerous old koot with a heart for the Texas Rangers baseball club. I know in my heart that he knows they made it to the World Series. I know, too, he had the best view in the stadium. Pawpaw, I hope you enjoyed the game! Miss you!

Rock 'n Roll Fridays - Hits of the 50s

I can't even begin to tell you how freakin' excited I was to find this meme! Rock N Roll Fridays! I LOVE music and, well, I LOVE memes! PUt them together and you've got perfection in my book! So... here's the info... rock on!

Welcome to Rock 'n Roll Fridays. We are like other memes in that we will ask you thirteen questions each and every Friday. But our little "twist" is that each week we will pick a singer, band, era or category and pick thirteen of their lyrics. Each of our questions will be based on the lyrics. Got it? Great! Let's begin this week's meme!

Today we picked Hits of the 50s. The song's lyrics are in italics.

1. Rock Around The Clock - Bill Haley & His Comets
“Put your glad rags on and join me hon', We'll have some fun when the clock strikes one. We're gonna rock around the clock tonight, We're gonna rock, rock, rock till broad daylight.”
What artist was the last live concert you went to see?
Rick Springfield! He's been the last one I saw live... at Billy Bob's in Fort Worth--twice! Love him!

2. Tutti-Frutti - Little Richard
“Got a girl named Sue. She knows just what to do. She rocks to the East, she rocks to the West, But she’s the girl that I know best!”
If you had to live on the East Coast or the West Coast, which would you chose?
You know, I don't think I'd prefer to live in any coast as I'm just not a "beachy" type person. I prefer MORE clothes rather than less. I don't tan, you see. I don't like sand in places that sand doesn't belong. However, if I must choose, I think it would (again) depend on if I COULD choose WHERE on the coast I lived. For instance, I would prefer the NORTHERN portion of the west coast (think Oregon or Washington) or the middle portion of the east coast

3. Summertime Blues - Eddie Cochran
“I'm gonna take my problem to the United Nations, Well I called my congressman and he said Quote: "I'd like to help you son but you're too young to vote"”
Have you decided who to elect for the Senate in your local elections?
I hate politics and all politicians are, generally speaking, corrupt. I believe they go in there with the best of intentions but they all wind up like the rest. Plus, I want to know any job anywhere else where you can serve ONE term and get paid your salary for life? Talk about a burden to the American people? Someone with real intent would realize that this policy is corrupt and change it for the benefit of AMERICA. But, to get off my soap box about politics.... I have not yet decided for whom I will vote in the elections.

4. Great Balls Of Fire - Jerry Lee Lewis
“I chew my nails and then I twiddle my thumbs, I'm real nervous, but it sure is fun, C´mon baby, you're drivin' my crazy”
When was the last time you chewed your nails and twiddled your thumbs?
I do not chew my nails. I don't have nervous habits. I think it's a disgusting habit. It's one thing if you have a hangnail and no clippers, it's another to sit around like a mental patient eating your hand. As far as twiddling my thumbs... never.

5. Earth Angel – Penguins
“I fell for you and I knew, The vision of your loveliness, I hope and pray I'll be the vision of your happiness”
Did you fall in love quickly with your significant other?
No, I tried to deny the fact that I cared for him as deeply as I did. I had pretty much sworn off relationships and refused to believe the any of the lines of BS that came from their mouths... regardless of how cute they were.

6. Roll Over Beethoven - Chuck Berry
“Hey diddle diddle, I am playin' my fiddle,ain't got nothin' to lose Roll Over Beethoven and tell Tschaikowsky the news”
What is your favorite classical music selection?
As if I know the names of any of them... I liked most of the selections chosen by Disney's The Little Einsteins! Ha!

7. Blueberry Hill - Fats Domino
“I found my thrill on Blueberry Hill”
Where did you find YOUR thrill?
I find my thrill in lots of places... my family... my hobbies... cooking... filling my spiritual tank with the Word.

8. The Great Pretender – Platters
“Oh yes, I'm the great pretender, Pretending I'm doing well, My need is such
I pretend too much, I'm lonely but no one can tell”
Do you pretend that everything is fine when on the phone with your family /friends so not to reveal your true situation if it is not so rosy?
I have in the past which led them to all be in disbelief when I filed for divorce. Not anymore because I refuse to live a lie.

9. Charlie Brown – Coasters
“Charlie Brown, Charlie Brown, He's a clown, that Charlie Brown”
Who is your favorite PEANUTS character and why?
I love Peanuts so it's hard to pick just one character. I adore Snoopy. I recall having a plush Snoopy as a child that was a lot like the Build-A-Bear type creatures where you can buy clothes for it and such. I remember having a pair of denim jeans with a little hole cut out the back for his tail. I thought those were SO COOL! I love Charlie Brown, too. I feel a lot like him sometimes. Not a big fan of Lucy, she reminded me of my older sister. Woodstock was cute. Linus and his piano playing was obviously cool. I guess it'd be the Snoopster or C-Brown.

10. Poison Ivy – Coasters
“Measles make you bumpy and mumps’ll make you lumpy, And chicken pox’ll make you jump and twitch, A common cold’ll cool you but whooping cough’ll fool you, But poison ivy’s gonna make you itch”
Do you have any allergies? If not, did you get a Flu shot this year?
No allergies and no flu shot.

11. Love Potion No. 9 – Clovers
“ She bent down and turned around and gave me a wink
She said "I'm gonna make it up right here in the sink"
It smelled like turpentine, it looked like Indian ink
I held my nose, I closed my eyes, I took a drink”
What is the worst thing you ever drank?
I'd say it's have to be some sort of mixed drink with a foul name. I think most of those are just created on a dare anyway.

12. Get A Job – Silhouettes
“After breakfast, everyday, she throws the want ads right my way, And never fails to say, Get a job Sha na na na, sha na na na na”
Have you ever been unemployed? If so, how did you find a job?
Yes. It sucked. I used a headhunter in the legal industry and networked to find my next job.

13. Sixteen Candles – Crests
“You're only sixteen (sixteen) But you're my teenage queen (you're my queen) You're the prettiest, loveliest girl I've ever seen”
How did you celebrate your 16th birthday?
I don't even remember so that's a sign that my memory sucks, huh?

Friday Fill-Ins

So...here we go!

1. One of my strongest beliefs is that karma will get you in the end. You know, the whole "what goes around comes around" theory. Yeah, that one. And, you know, it just better because man, I've missed out on TONS of retaliation just because of that 5-letter word.

2. The price tag on the camera, lens and processing software I desire is amazingly huge!

3. The sky is cloudy with a threat of rain and wind and cold, so let's stay inside and have movie night! I'll make some nachos; you grab the blankets.

4. Silence is comforting to me.

5. I always thought I'd be a teacher... Okay, let me rephrase. I always thought I'd be an educator in the school system. I never realized that being a mom IS the greatest teacher a child could ever have.

6. Josh came in from football practice talking about the moon and wanted to grab his telescope. He went and then I went outside to look at the full moon with him.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to going to the Fort Worth Christian football game because Josh is in the half-time "Kick, Pass and Punt" contest (currently in first place!), tomorrow my plans include a t-ball game for Drew, a football game for Josh (which means I'm taking pictures) and Sunday, I want to take Drew to the Spooky Kooky Castle at the local park here in Keller, get my week planned, my Christmas notebook finished, my menu complete, my grocery list done, my Scout's next two meetings finalized and bake come cookies!

Five Question Friday

Rules for Five Question Friday: Copy and paste the following questions to your blog post, answer them, then link up to My Little Life (below)!:

Questions for Friday, October 22: (Special thanks to Pam, Bethany [wowza, Bethany!! you came up with so many good ones, I had a hard time choosing!! Thank you!], Sandy, Katie, and [inspiration from] Wombat for their question suggestions! Do YOU want to be linked in a future 5QF? Do you have any burning questions? C'mon over to my community and offer them up!!)


1. Who is the better cook, you or your spouse? Certainly this is a joke, right? I am, hands-down, THE best cook in our home. Before we married Andy proclaimed he was able to make something (it's been so long that I don't even recall what exactly it was) but whatever "it" was, he has yet to make "it" and I don't think I'll ever see "it" regardless of what "it" is.


2. How often do you talk to your mom? Although we haven't always been terribly close, we are now (to a degree) and generally we speak every day. If not every day, at least every OTHER day.


3. Are you adventurous in the kitchen or stick to the recipe? It really depends on the recipe. If it's something I'm unfamiliar with and I'm TRYING a new recipe, I at least want to give the original a shot before I go tinkering with it. However, once I get something down, I have no problems adding or taking away as I see fit to make it "mine," so to speak. Other times, too, when I am being adventurous and I find that I'm missing an ingredient, I find it an opportune time to just make up whatever will work with what I have. I'm kinda McGuyver like that.


4. Is your second toe longer than your big toe? Nope. The "captain of the toes" is my big toe, not the first mate. (Only a true Seinfeld fan will even remotely understand that reference.)


5. Do you dress up for Halloween? (Bonus question: What will you be this year?) No. The last time I dressed up was when I was having a Halloween party for Josh. Plus, since I'm typically taking the kids around the neighborhood trick-or-treating, I see no reason to wear something costly, cumbersome or otherwise just for the purposes of escorting my children door to door begging for candy.

Don't get me wrong, I DO like the idea of dressing up but only if it's not at great expense. I see no reason to spend tons of money for the purposes of one night. Wait, isn't a wedding dress is the same type of thing. Oh, it's different, right? HA! Nope, SAME THING! I just can't stand how costly these cheaply made costumes are. It's ridiculous. I like the well-thought-out, homemade ones. Those are always the best!

We are invited every year to a costume party on the street but I have yet to make it for the simple fact that a) I don't own a costume and b) we've always had something going on. This year we don't have anything going on BUT since Ben won't go with anyone but me... can't really leave him here and I don't want to go to a costume party by myself.

Come join the fun each Friday at My Little Life

...at least

It was an okay day today. I have a lot of those... "at least..." type of statements which means that SOME progress was made in SOME parts of my life. Others, not so much.

...at least I woke up on time to make some great toaster sandwiches for breakfast... even though the thick sliced bacon took ten minutes longer to cook than the regular ones.

...at least I got most of the clothes done. There are 3 loads still needing to be finished and are in the floor but the mountains of piles of clothes (seriously, folks, there are MOUNTAINS of clothes everywhere!) are clean now instead of dirty. I'm in the process of moving Drew's 5's to the attic and moving IN the 6's. Josh is getting rid of his 10s and 12s and moving into 14s. Ben is moving out of his 0-6 months and into the 6-9 month clothing.

...at least Ben was happy enough that I was able to get a shower...

... at least I made it to Hobby Lobby to get the cellophane wrap so that I can take the kids to school tomorrow and turn it into the auction committee and get it out of my hair. Unfortunately, we can't make the auction due to a football game but I hope our basket does well. It's a "Breakfast in Bed" theme and looks positively wonderful.

...at least I got to school on time to pick up the kids even though there was already a line into the street even though I was there almost 25 minutes early.

I took our little carpooling friend home and then we went to the house. Josh started his homework and Drew started pestering JOsh. I tried and tried to get Ben to sleep. Finally about 4:30 p.m. he dozed off.

Our plans for the day? Leave about 5:15 p.m. with my neighbor across the street to take photos of all 4 boys at a great little location nearby and have dinner at Chipotle.

Well, we were planning on leaving to go take pictures around 5 to 5:15 p.m. but when I let Lola in and was petting her when I noticed an odd bump on her. Then another... and another. My dog was apparently attacked and bitten repeatedly by some insect and was having a bad allergic reaction to it. I called the vet that is right outside our neighborhood -- answering machine. So, I called the other one and they got me in immediately. The appointment time? 5pm.

I knew I was going to be fighting daylight to now get to the vet, get home, eat, and get to our photo location. They gave her a steroid shot and a shot of Benadryl. Poor dog. She was shaking and scared and in pain and uncomfortable. It was amazing how ... lumpy her legs and back and rear were from all these bites. So sad.

We load up, get home and meet up with my friend, Kelly. We drive to Chipotle and, unfortunately, the sun was JUST about perfect when we were there. Seriously, we were fighting daylight. We got to the location and you could just tell that the light was NOT going to wait for us. I was bummed. I hate wasting my time. I hate wasting other people's time.... but trying to put a positive spin on it... at least we got to spend some time with our favorite friends at one of our favorite eateries. And, at least she now knows a great place to go shoot some pictures.

I get home and help Josh with his vocabulary homework. He finishes up his math homework and goes upstairs to read and I come try to focus on little Ben. I really feel like between Josh's homework and Ben that Drew is getting a little bit of "the shaft" so I want to find some projects that are just me and Drew. I mean, Ben will obviously BE THERE but maybe while he's asleep or something. Hmm.. we'll have to see.

I guess the only way to end this one is ... at least it's night time and I can go to bed.

BREATHE KID... BREATHE!!!

After the amazing photo shoot with Amanda at Mulberry Lane Studios, I didn't accomplish much else for the day (now there's a shocker). I did manage to get my weekly menu made and therefore my grocery list finalized. Since Captain Pampers was crashed, I just figured I'd go grocery shopping later in the afternoon or early in the evening.

Ben woke up from his nap and I nursed him. Andy was home but the Rangers / Yankees playoff game was on so I knew he really didn't want to be playing Mr. Mom so I thought -- you know, self, he is rested. He is fed. He is happy. Why not call my mother-in-law to see if she'd like to watch him since he'll be good for a while and the list is a short one that shouldn't take all that long. She was more than happy to. Into the car we piled.

I took Ben to my MIL's and immediately showed her the cute photos of Ben. I dropped his diaper bag at the door and then contemplated saying bye but opted to just leave while he was distracted so that he could just BE distracted and relax. I thought I'd be in and out of Wal-Mart in 30 minutes. MAYBE 45 if the lines were long so this will be a piece of cake no doubt! What a great chance for them to bond.

So, we leave (Josh and I). We arrive about 3 minutes later at Wal-Mart. Grab the buggy and head down the dairy aisle. No sooner do we grab a package of bacon and turn to head down the cereal aisle does my phone ring.

It's the call I dreaded.

It's her.

It's him.

He's in such a state of separation-anxiety-terror, he can't even catch his breath. Then I know, it's started. Separation anxiety hell.

I tell Josh our trip is over. Give a big sigh and push my nearly empty cart to the front of the store.

However, before we departed the cereal aisle, I did have enough mind to grab the boxes of the cereal that we needed before we made our way to the self-check out counter. I didn't want to wait on anyone. We load up and were immediately on the road.

We pull up and immediately disembark. Josh leans in and places his ear near the door to see if he could hear him. I wasn't even to the door yet and man alive you could hear him screaming from outside. I come in and rescue him from this terrible woman that wants nothing more than to love, hold, cuddle, feed, swaddle, snuggle and pamper! As if! How dare she!

Ben is crying so hard he simply can't calm down.

It was so sad...

It was sad for me because now I know that I won't have a sitter for a date night or a vacation with my hubs or a birthday meal or a shopping run or .... or anything until he realizes that his Mimi is A-OK and fun to be around.

It was sad for Ben because, well, he was so scared.

It was sad for my family because we had no food and have to eat cereal not only for dinner but also for breakfast tomorrow morning.

It is sad for my Mother in Law because she just wants so badly to have that little guy love and snuggle and want to be with her.

I am thankful, however, that she knows it's just a phase.

So, yes, it has begun. Separation anxiety. My little snuggle bug doesn't want to leave my side. I'm his "safe" place. I'm his. He's mine. Well, gee, when you put it that way it sure doesn't sound all that bad. I guess that I just have to be there to remind him to breathe!

Amazing-ness

Is that even a word? Well, regardless, who cares!

My day started off a little rocky. I was up early with a somewhat restless little man (makes for a long night). I got the homemade waffles made and plated, woke up the little men and went to feed the baby. I then made sure we had our belongings and they were out the door on time. Come in, get the little man back down and I dozed off (like I said, long night).

So, I wake up and get ready to take little guy to his 6 month photo shoot with the amazingly wonderful Amanda Dykan.

Put little mand in the floor of the playroom while I was loading the car. When I walked to get him, he'd craped... everywhere! Serious diaper blow-out! Only me.

So, quick change for him.

Wet the curls (gotta have the curls!) I then went to wash my hands. Running water. Geez, now I had to go! Ugh! I scoop him up and we're out the door. Almost. He kept turning his head to nurse. Great. I had to nurse him otherwise I'd have had a grumpy whiny, red eyed fussy baby. That does not a good picture make. Sit down to nurse and text Amanda that we'll get there soon!

And, thankfully we did. What do you think? These are the three she'd edited thus far.







Oh, and if you're wondering -- the hats -- her friend Paula makes and sells those! I you need one, let me know!


I bought two hats from her. One that resembles Elmo and has cute little braids that hang down the side and I bought the pumpkin hat for Ben. He's a little pumpkin farmer for Halloween (the costume I'd intended for him to wear really doesn't fit and I'm not about throwing $40 or so at a costume for an infant. Sorry, I'm just a little too practical for that. I know, I know. It's his first Halloween. Trust me, he'll make up for it later when he's wanting all the Star Wars stuff like Drew!