NOBEMBER TURD

That's how my grandpa used to say that I said "November third" when I was a toddler. Eventually that evolved into people calling me a November Turd. I'd be offended, but hey, sometimes it's probably true.

My EMTsis took me out to lunch today at a restaurant called Hasta La Pasta. If you like Italian cuisine, you'll like this place. I had their signature dish, which is basically fettucine alfredo with cilantro cream sauce and grilled chicken. It was delicious, but man am I full. I couldn't even eat the free cheesecake they brought out for me. On the up side: Leftovers!

As we were finishing up our lunch, our waitress dropped a plate from the table next to us. It shattered all over the place, and I am pretty sure that the pain in my forehead is from shrapnel. I'm glad I was wearing jeans, because pieces of that plate hit me and my sister in the legs with enough force to make us wince. Fortunately, my leftovers had already been boxed and bagged, so they were safe from the fallout. The waitress had no idea the broken plate pieces had travelled that far, and in retrospect, we probably should have said something. If we'd still been eating, we definitely would have, as little pieces of white ceramic were all over our table and on our plates. As it was, we were finished and getting ready to leave.

That said, however, if I should start bleeding from the forehead, I'll be making some phone calls. Hasta La Vista, baby.

DANG

I didn't know I had to officially sign up to do NaBloPoMo. I've officially missed the deadline by eight hours and fifty-six minutes. Fifty seven. Oh well, I'm going to give it a go anyway, mostly because I like their graphic:















Today my dad and his gf are taking me out for an early birthday lunch at Chuy's. I love this place for one reason: their jalapeno ranch dip. When I die, I want my casket to be filled with me, a big jar of this dip, and a bag of chips. I'll definitely get into heaven when the angels see me coming with appetizers.

Then again, maybe I've had too much caffeine this morning.

More later!

NOVEMBER 2006 - Post One

So here it is, the first day of November. I'm going to try and accomplish not one but TWO superhuman feats this month: One blog post per day (thanks, Robin), and NaNoWriMo. I'll tell you right now that I'm much more likely to accomplish the former than the latter, but I'm going to give it a go anyway.

Decisions I've made in the past 24 hours, not all of which are earth-shaking:

• Okay, this first thought is huge: Normally I hate halloween with a true, unbridled passion. But halloween was actually fun this year.
• I can't believe I admitted that I enjoyed October 31st. That has never happened.
• Houston weather is weird. Today is cool and beautiful, with a high of 67*. Yesterday, not so much - it was hot, humid, and mosquitoey just in time for trick-or-treat.
• Much to my chagrin, doing laundry does not become more enjoyable just because I opened a new bottle of great-smelling fabric softener.
• My dog has a tendency to run by outlets and accidentally unplug stuff. For awhile I thought we had a ghost, but it turns out we have a Scottie.
• I like hubby's new job because he has to wear a suit and tie every day. He is unbelievably hot in a suit and tie. Rowr.
• I can write, truly. I just need to set my mind to typing out about 2,000 words per day. Jiminy Cricket, that's a lot of writing, y'all.

I guess I haven't made as many decisions as I thought. But at least I've got Post Number One under my belt. Just twenty-nine more to go! Now, off to NaNoWriMo...

ALL HALLOW'S EVE

Pictures!

Here are the kids all ready to go trick-or-treating. L-R: K is a stick figure (more on that in a moment), Pey is a High School Musical cheerleader, and Ry is Landon Donovan of LA Galaxy fame:

.

.

.

Here are a couple of pictures of K when we turned off the lights. His costume was the hit of the night. :)

.

.
.

.

.

.

Hope you all had a great pumpkin day, too.

Updates

Good

Girl Scout meeting went well. We even completed all the requirements for a patch. Before our next meeting, I need to make sure I purchase those patches so that the girls will feel a sense of accomplishment.

Halloween candy bowls are fully stocked (I bought eleven bags of Snickers, Butterfingers, etc. - no cheap stuff this year; thanks Grocery Game).

Kids' costumes are pretty much ready to go. Pey will be a cheerleader from High School Musical, Ry will be Landon Donovan, and K will be a stick figure. Y'all, if his costume works out, I'll be posting pictures all over the place tomorrow. SO neat.

I made Rachael Ray's Philly Cheesesteak Sandwiches last night. Yum-O.

My birthday is this Friday.

Bad

Friday I will be thirty-nine. Next year I shan't have a birthday, I think.

I have to take a CPR class on Friday. For Girl Scouts. It's not a requirement, but a "suggestion." I've noticed GSA has lots of "suggestions."

Speaking of Girl Scouts, Fish's comment on my last GSA post was right on the money when she talked about dealing with parents. I could go on for pages, but I'll just give this little anecdote:

At the parents' meeting, we talked about dues. It was decided that dues would be $2 per child, per meeting. Grand total of $20 for the year. Cheap, right? When it came to payment, I said that whatever the parents decided on how to pay would be fine with me, but that we had to come to a consensus - either everyone pays up front, or everyone sends two dollars with their child on meeting days. Anything else would become a financial headache for the Leaders. With God as my witness, I promise that every parent said they'd prefer to pay for the year in advance.

Jump ahead to the GS meeting on Friday: one parent brought me a check for four dollars for her two daughters, "just in case she decides they aren't going to be in Scouts for the whole year." One parent brought ten dollars in cash. Ten. No one else paid at all.

Well, isn't that special. I just can't wait until February cookie sales come along.

YO SE LA VOY, LA VOY AL NARANJA!

Houston Dynamo, you rock. Between you guys and the University of Texas Longhorns, my new favorite color is definitely orange.

Doesn't hurt that we're in the finals and DALLAS IS NOT! Woo!

Next weekend will find us in the stands at Robertson Stadium.

Nuff said.

IT'S FRRRRRRRRRRIIIIIIIIIDAY

A local DJ always says "it's Friday" all spread out as in the title of this post. I wish you could hear it; it always makes hubby and me smile.

This particular Friday is not going to be as relaxing for me as your typical Friday. That's because Pey's Girl Scout troop, of which I am the leader, is meeting here at our house right after school today. We already had the requisite Parent Meeting last Monday, which was only slightly more fun than a root canal.

Actually, no, it wasn't.

Our troop consists of eight girls, at least two of which I'd happily boot out if I were given the opportunity. Am I awful for not loving every child I meet? Seriously, shouldn't Scout leaders be blessed with Jesus-like patience when it comes to dealing with the little lambs? If so, then I need to turn in my Pin.

In all fairness, I cannot completely fault the girls for their behavior at the first meeting. My co-leader, who had agreed to lead the girls in a craft or two while I met with parents and had them fill out paperwork, completely ignored her job. She stayed with the parents and chatted while a bunch of eight- and nine-year-olds ran amok in my dining room. Not only that, but she was completely unprepared for the meeting - I'd given her all of her daughters' paperwork ahead of time (two of her kids are in this troop). Alas, she hadn't filled out a single page.

So at this meeting, I was pretty much on my own - corraling the girls while simultaneously trying to keep them quiet enough that I could hear their parents' questions and answer them. By the time all these people left my house, it was after 8:00 p.m. The kids and hubby were hungry and tired, and I was all that plus aggravated. It turns out that while the girls were coloring printouts of the Girl Scout Law and the Girl Scout Promise, they took advantage of the fact that they were pretty much unsupervised to flip the posters over and draw pictures of people committing suicide. One girl said that when she grew up, she was going to be a "Sui-side-kick."

OMG.

Co-leader hears about this after the meeting, and gets upset because her daughters didn't yet know what suicide was, and she didn't want them to learn about it from other kids.

Um, yeah, ya think? Where were YOU when the girls were doing all that? Not where you were supposed to be, I can tell you that.

Typing this out is making me upset again. I just hope today's meeting goes better than the first one. Lord, give me strength.

Mom

As of today, it's been exactly eight years since you left us. I still remember that last day at the hospital like it was yesterday...when the doctors turned off life support, it felt as if they turned off my own heart.

Every time I see a yellow butterfly, I think of you. In a way, I feel that the yellow butterfly is you, watching over us from time to time. I almost always see a yellow butterfly at the soccer fields, and it warms my heart because I know how much you loved to watch K play.

I hope that you can see how wonderful your grandchildren are turning out. K is a very talented guitar player now, Pey loves Girl Scouts and animals, and Ry is incredibly smart and creative - and he gives his dad and Tree a run when it comes to Star Wars trivia. You wouldn't believe it.

I know we didn't always see eye to eye, but you were my mom and I loved you very much. I still do.

I'm heading to the florist to pick up some of your favorite purple flowers, then I'll take them to the cemetery afterwards. I'm sure I'll have more to talk about with you when I get there.

Rest well, Mom. You are deeply missed.

PRODUCT REVIEWS

I was just reading a post on a board that I frequent (rhymes with "Rocery Rame") regarding Tylenol Go Tabs. Reviews are mixed, although the general consensus is "yuck."

So anyway, I started thinking about things I've been using around the house lately. Do I like Glade Air Wisp or not? How's that Oust Air Sanitizer working out? What are my feelings on the Tylenol Go Tabs? What the heck is that on the carpet?

And so it goes.

Tylenol Go Tabs - Convenient; no water required. But not as tasty as Tums (and yes, I know they serve different purposes - I was just making a taste comparison). Jury is still out on how effective they are on headaches.

Glade Air Wisp - Smells a room right good when it's set on high. But it beeps this annoying little high-pitched "where the heck is that beep coming from?!?" beep that irks hubby. Probably not enjoyable for the dog, either.

Glade Plug Ins - Can't tell you how much I lurve these things.

Stayfree Pads - Come on, they're pads. Not bulky, but awfully fold-y. (Women will totally get what I mean by that). Awful necessity. Hate them. Need them.

Vive Pro shampoo/conditioner - I got tons of this stuff for free. To me, the shampoo is just shampoo. If I'd had to pay for the Vive Pro, I'd have saved a couple of bucks and bought Suave. As for the conditioner, I've never met one that beats Pantene for detangling my frizzy mop.

Pantene Ice Shine shampoo/conditioner - Lordy, if this lived up to its promises, I'd buy stock in the company. But the only diff between the Ice Shine and regular Pantene is about two bucks a bottle. Again, if it wasn't free, I'd ... well, I'd still have tried it, as I am an advertising budget's dream, apparently. But I wouldn't buy it twice, so there!

Senseo Coffee Maker - Rocks.My.World. If anyone can tell me where to buy cheap pods, I'd be rather grateful.

Pizza Hut lasagna pizza - Sinfully delicious cholesterol on crust. We ordered it a lot. So why the heck did Pizza Hut stop selling it here? Don't even tell me that PH is concerned about my cholesterol...

Wacky Mac pasta - Turns the water red when you cook the noodles. That might be appealing to children younger than mine. Otherwise, they're just noodles, which basically means that the sauce is all that matters. I paid five cents a bag for this stuff. Worth every penny.

Oust Air Sanitizer - Kills poopy smells in the bathroom air. Can't complain.

Chex Mix chocolate & peanut butter - Oh my gravy, as Rachael Ray would say. Bad bad bad for me. Good good good for my taste buds. It's reminiscent of puppy chow (you know, that stuff you make with Chex and melted chocolate and peanut butter and powdered sugar at Christmastime). I could easily gorge myself on this stuff. And have.

Dyson - There are not enough adjectives in the English language to describe this insane vacuum cleaner. I have had mine for almost exactly a year now, and the honeymoon is still not over.

Carmex - Bliss in a tube. Or stick. Or tub. Carmex is all about choice.

Advil PM - Be sure you're already in bed when you take this stuff, is all I'm saying.

Cottonelle Fresh Wipes - There oughta be a law that every bathroom in the free world has these readily available. Sometimes I even use one to wash my face. A new cloth, of course; don't be gross.

Mary Kay oil-free hydrating cream - Little. Purple. Different. Very good for wearing under Everyday Minerals-type makeup.

Everyday Minerals makeup - Let me put it this way: I'm never going to put cream foundation on my face again. If you try EM, be sure to get Original Glo finishing dust. You won't believe the radiant glow you'll have. M'kay, I'm a freaking commercial. Moving on...

Pledge dusters - If these had existed when my mother was around, her house would have been much cleaner. She hated to clean, but these things almost make dusting fun. I said almost. Let's not get crazy.

Day Runner - Seriously, why so pricey? I've got a terrific At-A-Glance planner that cost six bucks. Day Runners of the same size and capabilities? $40 on clearance. I don't get it. I really don't.

Snapfish.com - Excellent photo developing and uber-cheap prices. They're quick, too. If you want to try them out, your first roll of film developing is free. If you tell them I sent you, I'll get a free 4x6 or somesuch. Drop me a line and I'll give you my email addy. (Shameless plug. Just shameless. Apologies all around.)

That's about it for now. The kidlets are due home from school in a few minutes, and I still have not identified that spot on the carpet.

In Memoriam

Hubby's grandmother, Arthelia, who would have turned 96 years old this coming Sunday, passed away last Saturday morning. She was a remarkable woman who traveled the world, gave birth to five children, and supported her family while her husband fought in WWII. She was a schoolteacher for many years, and in general just a smart cookie!

As she aged and her body slowed down, she still kept going. Art never let her physical limitations keep her from experiencing life. We'd sometimes offer to take her out to lunch, or to the park, or to a movie, knowing that despite her creaky knees, she'd always grab her walker and say, "Well, that'd be nice."

To the very end, her mind was as sharp as a tack. The ever-present crossword puzzle books she carried around helped with her memory retention capabilities, she said. I constantly marveled at the way she was able to keep up with hubby's sharp wit. Not many people were as quick as she.

Saturday afternoon, we sat the kids around the kitchen table and told them that GG had gone to heaven. They were devastated. The last close relative to die was my mother in 1998, and the kids were too young to remember much about her. But they have many more memories of GG, which made it that much harder to let her go.

We are all comforted by the fact that at least she is no longer in pain. And that she is finally reunited with her beloved little sister, Bliss, who died in 1918 when she was five years old. GG is also being greeted by her husband of fifty-plus years, who predeceased her in 1991. I can hear him now - "Art, what took you so long?"

In addition to dozens of other long-lost relatives that she is now reconciled with, she is probably most thrilled to see her firstborn child, who died the day he was born. At the time of his birth, I'm not sure the nurses even let her see the baby, so being able to at long last will be especially wonderful.

For those of us left behind, we say Godspeed to you, Art. We will miss you very much, and will try to live our lives the way you lived yours - with passion, adventure, and love.

16 YEARS ALREADY

And here's to fifty more.

DREAMING OF YOU
Last night I dreamed about friends I've never met. And orange stuff.

So here I was, at the Rachael Ray show, helping her set up the cooking segment. She looked at me and said, “You’re so nicely dressed. How do you always look so put together?” I looked down at my camisole and jacket and thought, “duh, Rach, it’s all about layering.”

A few minutes later, she asked me to run out and get something she needed (what it was escapes me now). I was apparently beamed into someone’s house, where their kitchen table was set with beautiful orange dishes and a large flower arrangement in the center. I heard a noise and turned to find a blonde-headed Jax standing there. He asked me how I liked the table he had set, and I told him it was lovely. Then he asked me if I wanted to see his daddy’s car, and led me to the garage. Inside was a orange Delorean, rather beat up but still cool.

At that point, Pez (wearing a baseball jersey and jeans, and with long, dark hair pulled into a ponytail) came in and asked Jax how he got home from the Mariners game by himself. He said, “I’m good at directions.”

Rachael Ray came into the kitchen then, and said that the table looked good and that she was ready to get started. She cooked up some veal and macaroni & cheese, which Jax declared “delish!” A few minutes later, the doorbell rang – Kimmer was joining us for dinner.

It was sure good to see you guys.

YOU HAD ME AT "HELLO"

We all remember the cheesy line "you complete me" from Jerry McGuire, right? Today I say those words in all honesty to my husband. M, I love you from the bottom of my heart, and I truly believe that we are soul mates. Happy birthday, honey. You are my favorite.

THE MODERN COLONIALIST

Yesterday was Colonial Day at K's school. If the kids dressed up in colonial-era clothing (or gave it their best shot), they got extra credit points. Here was K's choice of outfits:


K sports a pair of navy blue dress slacks, floodwater-length, tucked into twice-worn soccer socks. (On his feet are a pair of modern style ebony lace-up shoes, but the teachers let that slide.) Topping this ensemble is Dad's Old Business Shirt (DOBS), complete with ring around the collar, cinched in at the waist with Mom's Old Brown Belt (MOBB). Our model is unaware that he wore a woman's belt to school all day. Fortunately, so was the rest of the student body.



K is a very shy kid, so I was concerned all day that he'd be [gasp!] noticed! And would come home irritable and colonially grouchy and vowing never to go to school again. But that didn't happen - not only did he enjoy Colonial Day, he said it was one of the most fun times he's ever had at school.

Kids.

WHAT'S UP

If I were my 10-year-old, I'd sarcastically say "the sky" or "the roof." Fortunately, he can no longer say "gas prices," as they have taken a nosedive lately. My favorite filling station currently has regular unleaded at $2.19 per gallon - a price I've not seen in over a year.

So here's what's been going on during my silence the past week or so...

• Tnk is returning to full duty next Thursday. I cannot believe she has recovered from that horrible accident, nor can my mind grasp that my little sister will be back on patrol, at night, with all the bad people and drunks (not that those are mutually exclusive). This is seriously messing with my sleep patterns. It was hard enough worrying about her when she was 100%, but I worry that there may be lingering effects from her accident that may, in the right (or wrong) scenario, compromise her safety. Oh God, I just worry. She would not be happy with me for writing all this, but I don't care. This is my journal and my feelings are relevant. My feelings are relevant. They are. If I could lock her in a little box and keep her safe forever, that's exactly what I'd do.
• Of course, we all know that wouldn't solve anything. She'd just hate me then.
• K played a great soccer game today, and his team won 9-0. This was a milestone for him because it was the first time he'd been on the field since his arm was broken during a game last March. Unfortunately, I missed it because...
• ...I was at BLT all morning. No, not the sandwich; Basic Leader Training for Girl Scouts. That's right, I'm becoming a Girl Scout Leader. I am optimistic about this because I know it will be great for my daughter and me both. I foresee lots of paperwork in my future, but hopefully not lots of tantrums. (Particularly not tantrums by parents.) The reason I'm getting into this now is because Pey's current troop consists of 18 girls - 17 second graders, and Pey, who's in 3rd. What that means in layman's terms is that at the end of this school year, Pey will be the lone scout bridging into Juniors. And next year, her leaders would have fun trying to figure out things that both the Brownies and a Junior could do. Trying to nip this in the bud, I attended Rally earlier this week and was successful in forming my own troop - 6 third graders, and 2 second graders. Not ideal, but much better, as no one will be alone anymore.
• Good news - Hubby has been offered a new job. He's really excited about it as he'll finally be using the two degrees that his parents paid for. He will finally be out of the heavy-deadline business, and cannot wait to get started. Right now, it looks like October 9th will be the big First Day. I'm so proud.
• University of Texas clobbered Rice today in a total blowout. By the end, UT had put in the third string and still managed to rack up more points. I felt bad for Rice because I think Texas was blowing off some steam from their loss to Ohio State last week.
• Fish, if you're reading this, email me because I have some puppet news for you. (Like how I buried that in the big middle of this post? Oops.)
• Pey's friend J is here right now. J called an hour ago and said, "Can I come over and spend the night?" Anyone else would have gotten a quick "uh-uh," but J is Pey's best friend, plus J's mom agreed to be my GS co-leader, and even attended BLT with me today. I kind of feel like I owe her, although in truth J is usually no trouble and Pey likes having another girl around. I guess the dog and I aren't enough femaleness.
• For the record, J's mom was mortified when she heard that J called and invited herself over. I just had to laugh. Some people are hard to get mad at.

That's about it for the rambling. I'm exhausted and will probably be heading to bed really soon. First, though, I have to make sure J and Pey (never noticed that that rhymes before) are down for the night.

Hope you all had a great weekend.

IT'S MY LIFE

A couple of days ago, we took a family drive and went out for dinner at a little restaurant called Skeeter's, then ran a couple of errands. Just for fun, I took our new digital camera with me so that I could document a day in the life of, well, me.

The picture on the right is me in the van, taking an ever-so-candid shot of myself on the way to the restaurant. You might notice the stick-straight hair. After years of stick-my-finger-in-the-light-socket frizziness, I finally gave in and paid Supercuts to straighted my tresses. Did they ever! Take that, Texas humidity! I'm including a "before" picture taken at the reunion last week (why oh why did my hair have to look like that at the reunion?!?)














Before - Chewbacca. After - Rowr.

Moving on.

Pey looks terribly surprised about something. What's in that ketchup, anyway?










At Skeeter's, you can draw on the butcher-paper tablecloths. Here's Pey's drawing of Kirby, who is either quite winded or blowing a bubble. I never took Art History, so I'm at a loss.












Here are the kids acting all fly (in other words, "weird") in front of the restaurant after dinner. I had to crop out some unsuspecting hubcap-missing Toyota's license plate out of the picture, lest one of you innernet stalkers got a hankering to stalk him. You're welcome, Toyota owner. Now get a hubcap; your car looks dumb like that*:













Here's the gas pump where we filled up after dinner. Notice we're paying $2.29 around here right now. Road trip, anyone?












Here's the Kroger where I do my weekly Grocery Game (GG) shopping. I used to hate Kroger because of their stupid shopper's card. Now I know that it's a blessing sent straight from the heavens. Well, maybe straight from corporate headquarters, but who am I to quibble? Between my coupons and that card, I paid $49 Sunday morning for $110 worth of groceries. That's a savings of around 55%! Every week, I challenge myself to spend even less than the week before, and so far I've been successful. I'm totally addicted to GG'ing. It's like crack to me. (Someday I'll post a picture of my overflowing pantry and then you'll understand.)








(again, cropped out lots of license plates - all you car owners owe me for saving you from certain death)

And there you have it - a day (afternoon, really, but you probably wouldn't like the early-morning me) in the life of this Houston girl. Any questions?

*Before anyone accuses me of being a snob, a quick reminder: I drive a 1995 Saturn SL-2 with 172,000 miles on it. It recently got a new headliner, which helps somewhat with its appearance, but it still leaks some mysterious shit from underneath the passenger seat, sports a large winding crack across the windshield, has a console that vibrates more than my cell phone, and has more "doctor" appointments than I do. But hey, at least it has all four hubcaps.

20 YEARS ALREADY?

Last weekend was our 20-year (gulp!) high school reunion. I've been on the planning committee for months, so the buildup for me was huge, lemme tell ya.

Y'all, it was wonderful. We had over a hundred of our classmates in attendance, not including spouses. Well, unless you count dh and me, who both attended the school. And maybe there were one or two other classmates who married each other...but I digress.

The big event was held at a resort just north of Houston. Hubby and I (and several others who didn't want to drive home after the party, if you know what I mean) stayed at the resort on Saturday night. It was great. The toiletries were all from Bath & Body Works, the bedding included a down comforter, and the pillows were feather. Surprisingly, the cost was not outrageous, and I'd definitely consider staying there again sometime.

Anyway, the reunion: As I said, I was on the reunion committee, and my big job was the nametags. That was a task in and of itself, as it was decided that our senior pictures should be on each nametag. So I've spent the last couple of months working on the project - scanning in pages from the yearbooks, cropping each picture down to a manageable size (and moving each into its own individual file), and typing in hundreds of names.

Here's an example:

Tracy
Maidenname
Marriedname



(yep, that's me in 1986)

Those people who didn't have a senior picture taken weren't spared the humiliation, though: I've got yearbooks from all four years of high school, and I found them all! Bwahahaaaa!!! Well, save one, but he was a newbie our junior year and I just couldn't get an old picture of him.

In all seriousness, the nametags were actually a hit. People came up to me all night and said how cool they thought having the pictures with the names was. That right there made all my efforts (and the high cost of printer ink) worthwhile.

Hubby, who had not particularly been looking forward to the reunion, even had a good time. He was as funny and engaging as always, and our old friends commented that he hadn't changed much over the years. (See, M? I told you.)

I know M wanted me to write all about the reunion, but I can't honestly think of much to say that wouldn't be painfully obvious. Some people had not changed at all; some had changed so much that they were virtually unrecognizable. Some were much friendlier than they were in high school, and some were still jackasses. Fortunately, the former was much more common than the latter. One example of the latter, though, came from a guy I went out with (for about five seconds) in high school: The Pussycat Dolls song "Buttons" was on, and I was sitting at the table singing along. This guy came over, knelt down, and said, "I know you think you look good singing that, but I keep picturing you in your minivan. It just doesn't work for you."

Jackass once; jackass always. I'm trying to chalk it up to the fact that he'd been putting away the alcohol for awhile, but it was a mean thing to say anyway.

Overall, though, it was fantastic to see people, and in many ways I was able to close out an unpleasant chapter of my life. Not that high school was particularly bad for me - I was on drill team and had good friends and enjoyed a fair amount of popularity - but you know how you always remember the bad stuff. Anyway, I got a bunch of email addresses and phone numbers, and plan to keep in touch with old friends - and I mean it this time!

WHERE THE HELL IS MY BLOG?

The template loads, but there are no words on it. I can edit any post I want, but I can't see it after it's published. I can even see Beth's and Pez's blogs, but not mine. Heaven knows if I'll be able to look at this post, either.

This happens all the damn time with Blogger. Where can I find a more reliable free blog site?

TITLE GOES HERE

First of all, "HI, BETH!" I know I've been slacking off on my blog lately, but that's because it's harder for me to blog in the summertime. Not because I have a teenager on the computer at night, but because my life has very little structure right now. Without structure, Tracy is a flighty girl who does not blog much. But never fear, school starts next week and I'll be living in structure hell.

Does anyone else dread the start of the school year like I do? I don't know what happened. When the kids were little, I couldn't wait for them to get to school so I could have some free time. Now that they're older, though, I like having them home. They are pretty much self-sufficient, plus they're fun to be around. I can even leave them here while I make quick grocery store runs by myself.

I guess what I'm dreading most is the homework. Most likely, that's what the kids are dreading, too. What I can't stand is hearing the complaining that starts the minute they get off the bus. Here are some of those all-too-common complaints, in no particular order:

(Betty/Susie/Bob/Ruie) was mean to me today!
My leg/head/stomach hurts!
I've got too much homework!
I'm hungry!
Ms. Park/Smith/Weimaraner is mean!

And the best one:

Mom, you forgot to send (money/my permission slip/cupcakes) today!

The list goes on and on.

Hopefully my fears will be mostly unrealized, but in the meantime, I'm a ball of stress. I wish I could go back to the early days when school was easier, but the grown-up in me knows that can't happen - and shouldn't. (I am not currently fond of the grown-up in me.)

I guess I was hoping I'd only have to go through growing pains once in life. The joke's on me.

---

Big news: We got a new digital camera the other day. It's really great, except the battery doesn't seem to last as long as it should. Hopefully HP will take care of that when I contact them.

With thanks and credit for this idea to Pez, here are some random pictures:

K with Bailey. A boy has never loved his dog as much as this one does; I swear.












Pey pretending to have a broken leg. This girl is so creative. The thing on her leg is a slipper sock, but underneath that she had put a koozie around her leg. Her umbrella was brought into play as a cane. Completing the picture was the way she hobbled around the house pretending she was on crutches. It was hysterical. Oh, to be 8 again.



L-R: Me, K, and Ry at Reliant Stadium last Wednesday night watching two soccer games: Houston Dynamo (notice our t-shirts) vs. Los Angeles Galaxy, then FC Barcelona vs. Club America (a Mexican national team). In one night, we got to see the great Landon Donovan plus the even-greater Ronaldinho play. Live and in person. I swear our family is addicted to soccer. We even DVR the matches we attend, although to be completely honest, we usually do so because our seats (season tickets) put us in the line of the TV cameras a lot. LOL!



Well, that's about it from here. I've got to run now and take K over to my in-laws to mow their lawn. The kid makes a pretty good chunk of change by mowing just the family's lawns. Man, he's going to hate it when school starts. [sigh]

10 YEARS, OR 5 FOR GOOD BEHAVIOR

That's what the drunk who nearly killed my sister plea-bargained down to. He was sentenced last week to 10 years in prison, but he'll most likely serve only five.

He asked the judge for permission to speak to Tnk, then apologized to her and said that he hoped God would stay with her throughout her recovery. I ... don't know what to say to that. Too little, too late, maybe?

So the saga is nearing an end. Tnk has to have another surgery on her left hand next Monday, but fortunately it's a fairly minor one. She has a new hand doctor, and he's really great. Her last doctor was ready to write her off, but this one is giving her all kinds of hope. I pray that he won't let her down.