A Happy Diversion

I am, I fear, about to go mental.

The proverbial straw came today at Sam's. I was there to purchase cupcakes and other junk food related items for a youth party we're having at our house tomorrow night. Easy, right? I was all proud of myself -- I had the veggie tray (knowing full well that I would be the only one to touch it), pizza rolls, flautas, lots of cupcakes, stuff to make cappuccinos and mochas with, and I was ahead of the game because it was only Monday and I wouldn't have to go out again tomorrow. Yeah. Too easy. I knew there would be a catch.

So I get up to the front of Sam's, prepared to pay, quietly celebrating my ahead-of-the-game-ness, when the guy tells me that I can't use my Visa as a credit card. They ONLY take Discover (who the h*** only takes Discover?). He said, "Well, you can use your Visa as a debit card." Okay. Now hold on. I have a CORPORATE PLATINUM Visa. I suspect I am not the only business customer at Sams who needs to use a company card. Thing is, most people who have Corporate Visas DO NOT HAVE A PIN NUMBER because that's not something a common employee would have. So I'm screwed. He says, "Well, don't you have a check or something?" I said, "No, I'm pretty sure I've never had any trouble EVER using a VISA to buy something." So they suspend my sale and drag me and my cart off to the side, and the manager comes over and says, "I'm sorry ma'am, but we only take Discover. But what I can do is hold your order, and you can drive to Walmart and use your Corporate Visa to buy a Walmart gift card for the amount of purchase, and then you can come back here and use it to buy this stuff."

Blink.

Blink.

Blink.

I know I looked at him as if he were spurting green foamy substances from his facial orafices.

I couldn't believe he was asking me to drive to another store and purchase an item in order to complete the transaction here at this store. IF I WANTED TO GO TO WALMART, I WOULD HAVE GONE TO WALMART!!! I CAME TO SAMS!!!

I said, "It is absolutely freaking ridiculous that you guys would put your customers through all of this just to buy from you. I don't have time to go to Walmart. I came here to SAVE TIME!"

He said, "Well, see, we have to pay more for Visa and Mastercard purchases, so in order to keep our costs down, we only take Discover."

What?

That is the most lame reason I have ever heard.

I was SO FREAKING MAD!

I'm really feeling very much like George Costanza lately. I am about *this* close to running through the mall screaming, "SERENITY NOW!!!"

I am tired of evil customers. Why do people have to be evil at Christmas time?

Of course, I guess I sort of acted like an evil customer today, too. But it was warranted. That is the stupidest policy I have ever heard of. Don't punish your customers because you're to dang cheap to pay the extra .0167% that Visa charges for your transactions.

Ugh.

On a happy note, though, I used my personal monies there at Sams to buy the much-anticipated DVD set of the 24 Season 3!!!!!!!!! YAAAAAAAYYYYYY!!!! We have been waiting for a long time. You know how I get about Keifer. I obsess. I can't stop watching. I suspect we will watch 2-3 eps tonight, and then David will have to pry the remote out of my hands so we can go to sleep, and then we will stay up till 4 am tomorrow night and watch 4 more episodes, and I will not be able to breathe, eat, or sleep until I have devoured the whole season. I am so excited. MMMMMMMmmmmmmmmmm..... I can't wait.

And Season 4 starts Jan. 9.

Since the X-Files is gone, I had to find another obsession.

Maybe it will help to escape for awhile. It has been a very taxing couple of weeks.

Cheese

Oh, I'm so excited I want to cry!



I love Narnia. I love Narnia. I love Narnia.

When I went to London I saw a lion on the south side of the Westminster Bridge that looks just like Aslan. His face is the perfect blend of strength and gentleness... it's almost cuddly in a powerful way. Anyway, the Aslan in the movie models looks very much like the South Bank Lion. Here's the model:



Oh, do, let's count the day until December 9, 2005: 357!!! yaaay!

Today is David's and my 9th anniversary. Wow. Hard to believe. Time has flown and we've squeezed a LOT of living into 9 years. Seems like we've had a major life change every 2 years or so, and it's been very exciting and cool to see where God has taken us.

Got to see the meteor shower the other night. Punky and I got up at 2 am to watch. Some some really cool ones. That was very fun.

Okay. Must drink my coffee... be back in a sec...

Alright. So right now I'm hooked on mochas. Because I'm a chocolate nut, and because it's a fun treat for the holidays, and because it's really easy to add Hershey's Syrup to my quad, I'm now making a quad grande nonfat dry mocha cappuccino. Hooray coffee.

We are doing better with school. We've been really focusing on keeping the schedule every day, and with the new curriculum it's been easier to stay on task. We still have some difficult days, but it hasn't been as bad as it was. I was about to put him back in school and that would require me to go work full time, but I was so over the daily battles that it almost seemed like the only way.

I dreamed last night that I was wandering around a college campus barefoot trying to find the computer center, and I ended up in a day care center talking to the lady who ran it. I was looking for some computer part I needed back home for my computer, but I never did find it. On my way back to the apartment I was staying in, the girl I had just met at the day care center ran after me and gave me a mini loaf of pumpkin bread and then offered to drive me back to the apartment. We had to cross a low causeway to get to the apartment (which, apparently, was on the beach), and as we were driving across the tide came in and this big huge wave of water swept over the car. I remember I was in the back seat and I look over where Punky was sitting and he was just being flooded with water... I asked him if he was okay, and he was crying, and I unbuckled his seatbelt and got him out. It was a very vivid dream. Weird.

Time to go teach school now. And then we get to go have a fun anniversary day. Someone asked me last night if Punky was coming with us on our date! HA! I said, "Was Punky at our wedding? Well, then, why should he be on our date?!" Was that mean and insensitive? David and I NEVER get to go out together alone. There you go.

Show me your friends and I'll show you your future...

I told you that I would return to being an adult today. So I will apologize to my readers who took my gloating personally yesterday. It was not directed at you.

I'm not gloating about continued war. But since we are at war, I truly believe, as do 75% of the soldiers over in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as the rest of the military, that our current commander-in-chief is the best man for the job.

I was gloating because Michael Moore and his hate-spewing socialist agenda, and the American Communist Party, and P. Diddy and his "Vote or Die" lame-brain MTV ultra-ultra left-wing agendas will not be running our country.

I am so tired of being screamed at by the people that John Kerry was in bed with. So tired of hearing the dadgum Dixie Chicks and Bruce Springsteen and Sheryl Crow and Bonnie Raitt tell me that I'm an idiot if I don't vote the way they say.

The country is less divided now than it was even when Clinton was president. Proof of that is in Tuesday's numbers. No president in history has had a popular vote number that large, and no president since 1988 (that includes you Dems' golden boy) has won an election with a popular vote majority... until now.

So I'm sorry if you felt I was rubbing *your* nose in defeat... I wasn't. My words were directed to the people who have been screaming and ranting and spewing hatred and causing the division in the first place. I'd say America spoke back on Tuesday. It's Democracy, and I'm grateful for it.

Now, can't we all just get along?

Nanny-nanny-boo-boo

Most popular votes in history...

2004: Bush 58,390,139 (current, from CNN)
2000: Gore 50,996,582
1996: Clinton 45,590,703*
1992: Clinton 44,908,254*
1988: Bush 47,946,000
1984: Reagan 54,455,000
1980: Reagan 43,901,812

* not a popular vote majority

Smackdown in Congress...

Smackdown in Senate...

The cherry on top is that Daschle is out...

Tomorrow I will be an adult. Today I will gloat.

Michael Moore, Dixie Chicks, MTV, Bruce Springsteen, Osama Bin Laden: kiss my hiney.

AAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

America has spoken. And so have I.

This election is going to be a nightmare...

Yahoo news -- Kerry Looks to Avoid Gore Recount Errors

I am bracing myself. I was a wreck 4 years ago, and it's going to be worse this time. It is evident that Kerry is going to try and steal the election no matter what the outcome... declaring victory immediately and flying his lawyer goons to the battleground states to start the protests. Democrats crying "foul" (that "preemptive strike" their memo spoke of) and claiming that voters are being discriminated against. I have never seen a group resort to such dirty, underhanded means to gain control... they just can't play fair. Thing is, John Kerry will declare victory whether he won or not. Unless it's just a freaking landslide, Kerry and his goons are going to try and protest it. And when that doesn't work, they will try and impeach Bush.

Look, we had to put up with Clinton for 8 years. We didn't like it at all. It's our turn now. Deal with it.

So I'm pretty well convinced I'm going to have to start a regular dosing of valium and just stay under the influence for about 3 months. I can't go through another "up-in-the-air" election. I can't take it. Let me know how it turns out....

Home and tomato soup

Ahhh... I'm home. It was a whirlwind, but fun. I posted all the details over at the Stormy Blog, so go there if you want the lowdown and the picture retrospective.

Outside of the conference, we had fun, too... got to hang with Eric and Sarah and Jude, who is getting so big and actually saying words now. Wow. Time flies.

I told David, I felt the whole time like "Country Mouse Comes to the Big City." I'm so used to Bandera (Ban-tucky) that we walked around Dallas going, "Wow, tall building. Wow, train. Where are we? What is all this traffic? Where do all these streets go?" And getting blown over by all the Dallas-ites in their little sporty Bentleys and Audis and BMWs who flew past us on the tollway. It was amusing.

We celebrated my mom's, dad's and my birthdays last night. I'm very excited... I get to go clothes shopping, and I also got the first season of Wonder Woman on DVD!!! YAAAAAY! I cannot wait to watch it. And since my iMac has a dvd player in it, well, I may just plug in the ol' headphones and escape for awhile. There's even a commentary by Lynda Carter. How cool is that?

I'm sad that Christopher Reeve died. I'm also angry that freaking John Edwards is saying, "When Kerry is elected, people like Christopher Reeve will walk again." How irresponsible and insulting. There is absolutely no medical evidence that stem cells will help regenerate spinal cord cells. None. And it will take years of research and study to find that out... it won't happen within a 4- or even 8-year term of any president. Oh, and President Bush is the ONLY president who has even allowed funding for stem cell research. Clinton didn't. Bush 1 and Reagan didn't. I think Edwards forgets he's speaking to educated, thinking Americans and not a jury who's been selected for their weaknesses and lack of understanding. I am just so tired of hearing from these idiots -- Frankenstein and Mr. Rogers -- how rosy everything is going to be when they're in office. Children will have candy all the livelong day. We will have more money in our pockets (rrrrright....). Terrorism will merely be a "nuisance" (because the loss of 3000 Americans on 9/11 was a nuisance, according to Kerry's view of terrorism). All the dictators and despots of the world will just roll over and cry "uncle" because of Kerry's brilliant diplomacy. Guess what? Iran has already rejected the Kerry plan for their nuclear issues. Great! His plan works great!

Sorry for that tangent. I've been in conference land and haven't been able to properly vent.

Anyway, okay. Gotta go eat tomato soup.

Power to the people.

Youth Specialties

I'm in Dallas this week for a conference... David and I are in for an action-packed, mind blowing time here at this conference. It's going to be amazing. I'm going to try and post a running commentary of the week over on the Stormy Blog, so check there for what's up.

I'm particularly interested in the Spiritual Renewal portion of the conference. There's a prayer labrynth, late night contemplative prayer sessions, and other cool stuff, in addition to emerging church topics and such. Should be really cool. I think I'm going to do the labrynth tomorrow whilst David is at his Critical Concerns Course.

I am very sleepy. We left for Dallas after church last night and didn't get in to the hotel till around 3:30 am. I had Starbucks at 9:30 pm so that I could be awake enough to drive, but it wired me out and I lay awake all night once I finally got in bed. I feel jetlagged... I'm all dehydrated and groggy, and yet, since I took a nap this afternoon, I'm wondering if I will be able to sleep tonight. We shall see. I did go and run a mile and a half on the treadmill after my nap and that seemed to help. Maybe I'll get to do that tomorrow too.

Turning in for now.........

Ruby red

I have to stop going to old fart concerts.

We went and saw Van Halen Tuesday night. There was no one at that concert under 30. No one. Wow. We are old. But Sammy was hot... his voice sounded great and they rocked. I have to catch up on the shows I didn't go to as a teenager because I was too busy boycotting them. It's fun.

Oh, today, at work, at the Christian Bookstore, this guy called and said, "Yeah, I'm looking for a video. It's called 'Opposites Attract.'" I said, "Umm... okay, is it a teaching video?" I'm thinking it's some sort of marriage enrichment seminar or something. But he says, "No, it's a music video by Paula Abdul." I started laughing. I thought he was joking. That's a very weird request on many different levels, considering that he was calling a Christian bookstore and considering that song is like, what, almost 20 years old (omigosh. I am old. That song was big when I was a senior in High School.). Goodness only knows what the heck he wanted with that song.

Okay. So I suffered through the debates last night. I really was hoping for more fireworks, more drama, less scripted banter... it was really stale. Kerry was very strong... his performance was flawless. His points were ridiculous, but he did come off very strong in style. Bush could have been much stronger. I was really disappointed that he didn't nail Kerry to the wall when he had the opportunity to, instead of just repeating that this war is hard work and we have to be consistent. That is true, but I felt like he was so worried about phrasing things the right way that he hesitated too much before answering, and he repeated his talking points too much. I still believe that he is the best man for the job. He is consistent, he is passionate about what he believes, and whether you like his position or not, you have to admire his consistency and singlemindedness.

I am so happy that it's October 1! I celebrated by making my autumn Chipotle Corn Soup and homemade bread. We're supposed to get a cool front tonight... I'm so ready for cooler weather!!

I have nothing planned for this weekend. Yaaay! That's happy.

Oh, yeah, okay. I forgot. The Blogger people suggested this and I think it's fun:

Post a comment below and list three things you'd like to see a picture of in my blog. I'll take pictures and post them as soon as I have enough suggestions. Get creative... a picture of our canned goods... a picture of my laundry room... whatever. Let me know. I'm there.

Peace out.

Rrrrright.

MTV could not be more clueless.

They've chosen Christina Aguilera to host a documentary on abstinence????

And this is a good idea, umm, why?

Here's the full story.

Krypton

I am so bloomin' sore!

Flo and I went hiking yesterday at Lost Maples, and we did the full meal deal: the west trail and the extra loop. All in all it's about 6.5 miles of pretty rugged terrain... there are 3 really major hills that are about as steep as a flight of stairs and much, much longer. It's a major workout, and we love it. Plus it's just great girl time.

But when I got home and started telling David about a certain tiger-striped butterfly I saw out there, he got jealous and decided he wanted to go and take some photos. So we went back to Lost maples and ended up hiking another mile and a half while we were there. Yeah. wow. I collapsed in the car when I realized I had gone a total of 8 miles that day. My legs will never be the same again!

I am loving my new mac so much, although I am feeling like an idiot because it's so different and I'm pretty much lost in some respects in trying to find my way around. That will come eventually. But all in all it's a great machine, it's fast, and it doesn't have issues like my other computer does. My other computer tends to be passive-aggressive and likes to take out its age on me.

My only complaint with the mac is that the resolution is so small it hurts my eyes unless I wear my reading glasses, so I have to dutifully wear them as I type out my rambling commentaries on life and love. I feel very much like Scully right now.

So we watched Survivor Thursday night, and I wasn't too impressed with all the "Don't miss the first 10 minutes" hype they put out. Big whoop... the guys drank some funky drink, killed a pig, and climbed a pole. I like the FBI guy (just because I have a soft spot for nerdy FBI guys) and the two older women who don't mind working hard. The little preppies I can do without. But it should be a fun year.

Okay, I have a cat and a 7-year-old vying for my attention, so I guess I'm outta here. Lovey says ;alsdkfjadshljdhsflkjaweuhfkajsd.

Word.

New mama

I have an announcement to make. This may come as a huge surprise to many, as I wasn't expecting it myself. We have a big change in our family, one that will affect everything we do and a lot of people around us.

We have a new addition to our family. We're so excited. So proud. Would you like to see an early picture?



awwwww.... ain't it cute?

:)

I'm so excited. Got it yesterday. I'm sitting here typing on its little tiny keyboard right now. I have always been a Mac person, but haven't owned one in 10 years, which has made me very sad. My first computer was a Macintosh Performa 405, and I think it had 4 mgs of ram. But it was great. Never crashed. Getting used to Windows was not only a chore, but it was like downgrading to an inferior, junky product. So I am very happy, even though this iMac is totally different from the Mac I'm used to. It's got OS X on it, so I'm trying to find software for it now, but I'm planning on switching all my work-related stuff over, like my graphics and music software... that way our poor dinousaur of a PC can have some room to breathe.

Tonight David and I are going to see Sting and Annie Lennox in concert. That should be the bomb. It's cool to be able to knock out two artists at once... both have been on my "must-go-see-before-I-die" list, so there you have it.

Well now, I'm in need of some coffee, so I'm outta here for now. Love ya, mean it.

I LOVE MY MAC!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ancient Egypt

And so I'm not remotely sleepy. Nope. Not at all.

Woke up really early this morning for "See You At The Pole." I went to the middle school, David went to the High School. Last year, they told me, there were only about 5 kids at the middle school. This year, we started with around 20, and by the time we were done praying and I opened my eyes, the number had practically doubled. It was very cool. I took donuts which wooed more than a couple into our fold. It's amazing how convincing breakfast pastries can be.

Okay, so my ticked-off friend and I are okay again. Ugh. That was really ugly. What made it so bad is that in the 3 years we've known each other -- and we're super close -- we've NEVER had a disagreement. So this one was really just... well, ugh. Didn't speak for two days. Man, I hate conflict. It makes me want to go to sleep. Except that then I can't sleep because I'm worried about the conflict. Which makes me sleepy the next day. Which makes my stomach hurt. Thank You, Lord, that's over. Anyway, yeah, we talked last night and put it away and all is well. Moving on...

I just logged into my wonderwoman@ladyjanegrey.com address that I haven't touched since, oh, April, and let me just say that spam just really hacks me off. That address is one that I would use just for my personal email (as opposed to the general ladyjanegrey account), so it's not like the address is out there for all the world to find. But I logged in tonight... there were 3317 emails in my inbox. Every single one of them was spam. And some are just so vulgar and over-the-top even in the subject line that I was shocked and apalled. I'm all for freedom of speech, but to be visually violated against my will (well, yeah, I know it's redundant) is really infuriating. I have a 7-year-old. If he were to read one of those subject lines inadvertently, well, he would be forever scarred. It's downright porn that I just really don't want in my freaking inbox. {end rant}

Can I tell you how much I love gmail? I love gmail. It's google's new email program. Very happy.

Umm, that's all I know. Boring night tonight. I'm going to attempt to sleep now, although I'm all sorts of wired. I had coffee at like 5:30 this evening, so it serves me right. Maybe I'll read with my stupid new READING GLASSES!!!!

All of our donuts are fresh.

Arrabbiata

Coming down off of a fun weekend... where to start, where to start?

Friday night played for a friend's release party, although it was a different sort of release party in that they filmed it for DVD later. Anyone who missed it missed a tremendous experience... His name is Bill Gokelman and omigosh... what an inspired artist. His stuff is all instrumental piano music, and it is absolutely breathtakingly beautiful. Go have a listen here. It's amazing.

Saturday night David and I went to Fredericksburg to celebrate his birthday... we had dinner at a freaking cozy little restaurant called The Nest... it's in an old house and only has 15-20 tables, so it's very small and intimate. We both had stuffed chicken with garlic potatoes and marinated portobello mushrooms and spinach... it was amazing. After dinner we went over to a cigar/wine bar-type place called Lincoln Street. Again, very cozy... they had live music and it was nice to actually just get to sit and listen for a change. The band that was playing is called Byrd and Street and they were nice... easy to listen to and very relaxing.

Today was church and then we celebrated David's b-day with his family, which was fun. I am still so full from lunch at Macaroni Grill.

So everything was fun till I think I inadvertently ticked off a friend. Actually, it's one of those situations where she took something totally the wrong way, and then said a bunch of passive-aggressive (but hurtful) things back, and by then I was really hurt and, well, you know how it goes. Sort of put a damper on my evening. So now I'm licking my wounds and wondering how long it's going to be before she decides to be nice again. Ugh.

I am so ready to fast for about 3 weeks. I am tired of eating. I am tired of eating. I am tired of eating. Make it stop. Please, make it stop.

Ich bin sehr alt.

Today I had my first experience with, "I'm not as young as I used to be." It was an odd feeling.

I've always been extremely healthy... no chronic problems, only seasonal allergies to speak of, but no major health concerns ever.

So today I went to the optometrist because I needed new contacts, and the first thing he said to me was, "You need to cut down on fats and get your cholesterol checked. I can tell from your corneas that it is high, and if it's showing up in your corneas there's blockage in your heart."

Nice.

Then, he says, "Your prescription has changed quite a bit from a year ago. Your eyes have gone from a 4 to a 4.75."

Great.

Then, he goes, "You have very weak muscles in your eyes. They probably bother you when you get tired," (which is true) "and you are going to need to start doing some eye exercises to correct them. They're pretty weak."

Fabulous.

And then, he follows that up with, "I want you to go ahead and get some reading glasses so you're not straining your eyes at close distances."

Geez, freakin' Louise! So I suddenly have blocked arteries, bad eyesight, weak eyeballs, and have to wear old lady reading glasses! What the heck? I left the doctor's office feeling very old. I think for the first time I realized, "Oh my gosh, I am over 30." And now I actually have to act like it... can't eat whatever I want anymore, etc. Oh well. It's an excuse to trim down and exercise.

It just doesn't seem fair that my best friend, who is 10 years older than me, can run 5 miles and has perfect eyes. Thank you, genetics.

So here I sit with my Wal-Mart reading glasses on, wondering how I'm going to be able to stay up all night tomorrow night with 30 teenagers! And I have to work tomorrow. And they don't have Starbucks at Six Flags.

We met with our good friend, Jay Tope, tonight who just announced his mayoral campaign here in San Antonio. He is the only one running who is not a rich attorney, and he really has a great vision for San Antonio and for cleaning up the Mayor Garza/City Council mess. Anyway, check out his site here. Get behind him. Get a yard sign. Get involved.

I am becoming my grandmother. I thought about it tonight... they are, have been all my life, very active Republicans. It's my heritage, it's bound to be my destiny to be involved on some level in politics. Even if it's just to rant.

hammerhead

Watching a shark show with Punky... there's a hammerhead hunting down stingrays with his bionic senses. Ocean life is cool. Oooh... shark just killed a stingray. Go shark.

Went to a Mary Kay party tonight. Wow. I'm so not Mary Kay material. Why I'm always asked to join is beyond me. I wear jeans. They have some little motto about not wearing pants (huh?) and I live in jeans. Right. Okay. But it was fun and I did it for a friend, so it's all good.

I'm hungry. I really don't want to eat. I have eaten out for so many days that I can't remember when I cooked last. That's terrible. And I'm so tired of restaurant food. So tired of it. I'm feeling lardish and wish I could fast for like 3 or 4 weeks. Ugh.

I spent the entire day in Punky's closet today... his closet is a black abyss of evil. Seriously. I spent my whole day off last fall organizing it, and yet over the past several months it has gotten trashed and disorganized because things just get thrown in there. I am organizing one last time, and then it's outta my hands.

Really, REALLY dug Guliani's speech last night at the RNC. Y'know, I was thinking about this today... Okay, yeah. I'm a Republican. A conservative on most fronts. And most of the time, I am made to feel bad for that position... like I should apologize for my beliefs. No. NO! Liberals can rail and gripe and say all they want, but I'm usually looked down on and made to feel like an idiot for what I believe in. But I have every right to my opinion, and this is a free country, darn it, so there. You Dems who are reading this (and most of my friends and even my brother whom I love dearly are Dems) I respect your beliefs and still love ya (even though you're wrong :) ), but I'm tired of feeling weird about writing about what I believe in here. So anyway, I loved Guliani last night, thought he did a bang-up job, and was very entertaining. It'll be interesting to see what happens in 2008. Could very well be Guiliani against Hillary again. Innnteresting. Can't believe Michael Moore had the audacity to show up, but glad that McCain gave him the smackdown. Gotta hand it to Moore -- that took some guts. Or he's just an idiot. Maybe that's it. Yeah, pretty sure that's it. And USA Today has hired him to do legitimate reporting? Guess I won't be looking to USA Today for any legitimate news, now that I know they hire liars and libellers as "columnists."

Anyway, okay, time to go eat. I'm super hungry. Gotta stay up late (really late) all this week... we're taking 30 kids to a lock-in at Fiesta Texas on Friday, so we'll be up all night partying down with concerts by Pillar and Skillet and all night rides. Should be fun.....

Poor fish. 

Sarah playing fish volleyball 

Gary Loper of the Revelators and Ruben V at the Brooks/Brown Benefit last weekend 

Our spoiled rotten cat 

Port Isabella 

Sleepy mom and punkster 

daddy and punkster 

Pre-stingray boogie boarding 

Hooray, Dolphins! 

David took this cool shot of Punky and I before we hit the beach 

Catching up...

Wow... I last blogged over a month and a half ago. Since then, I've done a full run of "Annie Get Your Get Your Gun," which was loads of fun... I discovered that Hastings in Kerrville has a nice new coffee cafe, and was able to not only get myself a quad before every performance, but also hook us up with a stash of Republic of Tea's Good Hope Vanilla Red Tea. That tea is like dessert for me. Yum! I miss my orchestra friends, now that it's over. Looking forward to doing South Pacific this winter.

Immediately following the closing of the show, we went to camp at Highland Lakes camp out in Spicewood. We took 9 students and had a blast. I got sick the very first night and ended up feeling miserable the whole time, but we still had fun. It was a great time of bonding with the students and also a time of refreshing for me. Food wasn't bad, either.

Since then, we've spent the summer being kids... going to Schlitterbahn, Malibu, bowling, and this past Sunday, we had all the students over to our pool for swimming and fish volleyball, which is just basically volleyball with a dead fish instead of a ball. It was hilariously gross, and the kids loved it (the grosser, the better, right?). Pictures will follow.

And so then, last week, David and Punky and I went to South Padre Island for a much needed vacation. It was great, except for the first day. We were all out in the ocean boogieboarding, and I had just caught a fabulous wave and rode it forever, and as I stepped down off of my board, I felt a very sharp jab -- what actually felt like very sharp teeth -- on my ankle. Now, when one feels very sharp teeth on one's ankle in the ocean, one immediately thinks, "Shark!" Yeah. All I knew was that I had to get out of the ocean now. And do you know how hard it is to get out of waist-deep ocean water with a very strong undertow, not knowing how much of your foot is left? And to top things off, I was scrambling to get away from whatever has just bitten me, and I saw 2-3 jellyfish, so I was also dodging them in my quest for freedom. It was like a bizarro version of Super Mario Bros, and I'm Luigi! Anyway, finally making it out of the water, I looked down to see that my ankle was bleeding profusely, and I was in terrible pain, so I just sort of collapsed onto the beach. Fortunately, a lady came up and said, "Oh, yeah, you got stung by a stingray. That happened to me a couple of years ago. It hurts like crap and then you might start having trouble breathing, so we'd better call EMS." So 4 guys carried me (no comments, please, on how many guys it took, okay?) to a chair and then like 8 paramedics, firefighters, policemen, park rangers, national guard, Air Force, Marines, and a few doctors ended up looking at my foot, said they didn't think the barb got stuck, and to go up and soak my foot in very hot water, which neutralizes the poison. Problem was, I couldn't walk, because the poison had paralyzed my foot. So the EMS dudes had to carry me up to my room on a stretcher...... Yeah. I just wanted attention.

Thing is, my foot is still hurting, almost 2 weeks later. But I have become one with the stingray, and now I have stingray powers. Mwahahahahahaha........

Oh, we went to the Schlitterbahn Beach Park while we were there... that was awesome. It's one big lazy river and you float around until you find a ride, and then you just float right onto the ride. Punky was great... he was nervous about the rides, but he was very brave and went on them anyway and had a blast. Oh, and there were 117 people there the whole time we were there, so we essentially had the place to ourselves! Hooray, school!

David got a very cool camera and has been practicing his photography skills, so I will now post all his very cool pictures from our trip and such.

It's good to be back online. I have missed blogging. I have missed our website. I have missed our music. Hooray, music.

This little fella and I became intimately acquainted last week at South Padre Island. He made a large hole in my ankle and I thought I had been bitten by a shark. Ouch. This story and more coming soon... 

Tapdance

After this week, I will be able to breathe again! Lord willing, this is my last five-day work week. I have become really guarded of my schedule... especially the after-work hours, because if I am not careful, I end up being out every evening, and by Friday I look back at my week and go, "ACH! I'm NEVER HOME!" So tonight we have to teach VBS. Tomorrow the youth are going bowling/pizza-ing, but they'll be done by 6. Wednesday is church. Thursday, I hope, is nothing. Annie is Friday and Saturday, last two shows.

Then I go to camp on Sunday. I'm looking forward to camp. I was only going because one girl from our group signed up, but now it looks like we're going to have 4 girls! Yaay! It's going to be really nice. I don't have to do anything at camp but just be available and have fun. Get to be a high schooler for a week. Cool.

Flo is back after being gone for a week. Although it wasn't too bad because we're finally both on Sprint cell phones so we can talk for free... so this week was full of text messaging and phone calls during the van drives. But I'm glad she's home... I have missed her. I'm looking forward to having more time together when I slow down.

Kathy, it seems, is still not online either...... haven't talked to her in like 3 months. We were going to start a notebook and write in it and send it back and forth, but I just now got a notebook. We are so much alike. Twins. We procrastinate everything, and end up missing each other for months, and then pick back up where we left off 3 months later. I really miss her too. We were together 24-7 in college -- literally.

Okay, okay. I really don't want to... but I must go get in the shower and get ready for work. I'm still sleepy.

Word to your mom.

Learning to stop

My goodness.... my life has not been my own for over a month now. I always end up resenting my life and my schedule when I get into this mode: leaving my house at sunup and getting home at 11:30 pm. I haven't seen Punky or David for a long time... my laundry is out of control... my dishes are unstoppable. I can't remember the last time I actually ate a meal at home. I'm at the point where anyoneone asking me to do anything extra gets a resounding and bitter "NO!" with a look of disbelief directed at them ("After I've just finished telling you what my schedule is, you have the AUDACITY to ask me to do more?"). I was actually asked yesterday at work to come in on my day off today to bring them tacos. Tacos! Umm, I live an hour away. Ordinarily, if my life were simple and I had actually seen my family once in the past month it would be okay. But today I am planning on laying out by the pool for the entire day. So no. No tacos from the Diva from Bandera.

We opened "Annie Get Your Gun" in Kerrville last night. Got to actually play in a bonafide pit... that was cool.

Ohh! David went into his old work yesterday to return some stuff, and all the Lange stuff was $1!!! For those who are not familiar with Lange, it's top of the line skincare products that are sold in exclusive salons for a TON of money (like $40-$60 a bottle)... well, apparently the owner of the company passed away last year, and his loser kids, who were the heirs, totally let the company go, stopped paying all their bills, and squandered his hard-earned money. So Lange is no more, and its suppliers, like David's old company, are left with all this product to get rid of. Hence the $1 clearance. We got a case of shampoo, 6 bottles of the facial cleanser that I so love, and a whole bunch of other stuff.... the shampoo alone would have cost $130 or so... we got all of it for $25. I love Princess Beauty Supply. See, it's the simple things in life that get me......

I must go to Super S in Bandera now and pay way too much for basic groceries. They are thieves. Example: Oreos are around $4.00 there. I think they are $2.50 in San Antonio. Super S believes that they must stick it to us poor hillbillies because we are totally dependent on them. We need an HEB out here so badly.

BBC NEWS | Entertainment | Madonna compares Bush to Saddam

BBC: Madonna compares Bush to Saddam
:

"Madonna wants to be 'part of the order, not the chaos' of the world
Madonna has said US President George Bush and ex-Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein are alike because 'they are both behaving in an irresponsible manner'. "

I'm sorry, umm, remind me again why I'm supposed to care about Madonna's expert opinion?........

I hate scorpions.

Ugh. I just came in from outside where I watched two HUGE scorpions climbing all over the outside of my house. Our house is all cedar, so I guess they like the wood. They are nasty creatures.... one of them had the stinger of another scorpion in its claws and was eating it. Beasts! They are surely inhabited by satan himself.

David's at camp this week... it was a last minute thing and we scrambled last night (after a very busy weekend) to get him ready. He's with 30 kids ages 9-13 at a sports camp and I'm sure he's going to be all worn out by the end of the week. He was fortunate enough to get his own room, though, so at least he won't be up all night trying to get the little buggers to sleep.

So Punky and I are on our own this week. We went shopping this evening because Punky was down to nothing clothes-wise. I love Old Navy. They were having a giant sale and I got Punky 8 shirts and a pair of pants for $60. He's going to be stylin' -- they're all little surfer boy clothes. Very cute.

Very tired. Must....sleep.... more tomorrow........

Patriotism and the Gipper

I missed most of Reagan's funeral yesterday because I had to work. I listened to some of it as Glenn Beck did a live commentary during the preliminary ceremonies and watched a bit of the recap on Charlie Rose last night.

I loved the thought that for one day, Democrats and Republicans were able to put aside their differences to pay tribute to this great American. Despite the complaints from a few crybaby liberals early in the week about how egotistical the Reagan family was for wanting a full State ceremony, for the most part the country did a great job honoring Reagan's life and legacy. He was indeed a great statesman, but more than that, Reagan imparted a sense of ownership and responsibility to us, the real America, the Average Joe. He made it clear that it was up to us to make America great, not Congress, nor politicians, nor himself. It was his belief in us that gave America our sense of pride, and his optimism became ours, and for that he will be remembered. And for those brats who just had to complain about the pomp and circumstance, I have to ask: where are we as a country if we have absolutely no traditions left to remind us of who we are? Whether you agree with Reagan's politics or not, we still need times of national mourning and celebration to serve as a touchstone... to remind us of our heritage, our identity, our freedom, and all the things that make this country great. And I would say the very same thing if it were Bill Clinton or Jimmy Carter we were burying.

What really makes the liberals look bad are the embittered, angry, hateful folks that seem to be growing in number: Morrissey proclaiming onstage in Dublin that he wished it were Bush who had died; people like this who say that our loss is "hell's great gain," cartoonist Ted Rall's remarks about Reagan "turning crispy brown [in hell] about right now," a select few in a Prairie Home Companion live broadcast who actually applauded at the news of his passing... you people disgust me. You are the reason why I choose to not vote alongside you. Your platform is hate, yet you preach tolerance (as long as I agree with everything you say. When I don't, when I express my personal beliefs, I am a close-minded bigot). Tell me what's tolerant and peace-loving about reveling in someone's demise, and in his family's pain? Because that absolutely contradicts all your anti-war, anti-hate, pro-tolerance crap that you say you stand for. Tell me why you say that we need to stop the inhumanity of this war, stop the senseless killing, yet you carry around hatred and murder in your own hearts? How is that consistent? Michael Moore's entire career is based on hatred and division. Nick Berg's "dovelike" father has done nothing but spew hatred at Bush and use his son's death as a platform to promote his own socialist agenda. The absolute contradictions astound me. If you're going to stand up for something, you have to walk it out in your life. I would have much more respect for the liberal platform if there was actually some consistency and some integrity behind the words. I don't agree with you, but I don't walk around spewing hatred and wishing death on those I don't agree with.

I'm going to close with the ever-eloquent words of our good friend Dony Wynn, whose views I respect for their balance and logic:

"A Long Ride Into the Sunset

This week, ex-president Ronald Reagan passed from this world. Even though political discussion and contemplation dares not enter into my everyday, I will admit, I can vividly recall when he was president. I remember that as an American the U.S. of A. felt good when he was at the helm, and one felt a twinge
of pride to be known as an American when traveling abroad, too. Our country was alive and thriving. Vitality was running amok. The positive spirit he instilled worldwide was contagious. Rampant.
I don’t feel that way now. We’ve got someone else at the helm who’s recklessly traded our dignity and respect for personal gain and selfish redemption, leaving us vulnerable to serious retribution on the international stage
meanwhile. Playground bully by any other name. Sorry, I digress...
This week.
This week, my forty-eighth birthday will occur. There will be little fanfare, if anything. I prefer it that way.
There is much fanfare for our fallen president. Deservedly so.
A Native American warrior chief once said, “What is life? It is the flash of a firefly in the night. It is the breath of a buffalo in the wintertime. It is the little shadow which runs across the grass and loses itself in the
sunset.”
President Reagan lived his. I’m living mine. Our precepts similar, our platforms vastly different. When my time comes, I will sing my death song and die like a conquering hero returning home. Just as he did, I’m sure.

There will never be another week like this one. He’s gone now and I live on, carrying the torch of goodness and service for my fellow man, best I can, as did he.
Our work here on Earth is never done. God willing, I’ll do my utmost. And if I should be so fortunate, I’ll win yet another one for the gipper. Like he would’ve wanted.
God bless you and keep you, Ronnie. You left the world a better place. A simple virtue to which we all should aspire."

St. Louis-Area Lake Vanishes Over Days

AP:

"WILDWOOD, Mo. - To folks around Wildwood, it is nothing but freaky: an entire 23-acre lake vanished in a matter of days, as if someone pulled the plug on a bathtub.
Lake Chesterfield went down a sinkhole this week, leaving homeowners in this affluent St. Louis suburb wondering if their property values disappeared along with their lakeside views.
'It's real creepy,' said Donna Ripp, who lives near what had been Lake Chesterfield. 'That lake was 23 acres - no small lake. And to wake up one morning, drive by and it's gone?'
What once was an oasis for waterfowl and sailboats was nothing but a muddy, crackled pit outlined by rotting fish.
The sight had 74-year-old George English scratching his head.
'It's disheartening, getting out on your deck and seeing this,' he said as he stood next to wife, Betty, and the 'lakeside' condominium they bought in 1996 for its view. 'One day it's a beautiful lake and now, bingo, it's gone.'
Some residents said they noticed that the lake, after being swelled by torrential rains weeks earlier, began falling last weekend. The Englishes said they noticed the drop-off Monday.
By Wednesday, the manmade lake - normally seven to 10 feet deep in spots - had been reduced to a mucky, stinky mess.

David Taylor, a geologist who inspected the lakebed Wednesday, told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that the sinkhole was formed when water eroded the limestone deep underground and created pockets in the rock. The sinkhole was 'like a ticking time bomb.'
The lake and surrounding housing development date to the late 1980s. The development now includes more than 670 condominiums and houses, about one-tenth of them bordering the lake.
Because the lake is private property, the subdivision's residents will have to cover the cost of fixing it, probably through special property assessments. George English expects it to cost $1,000 a household.

It is a price English said he is willing to pay. He just wants the unsightly pit gone, either by refilling it with water or dumping enormous amounts of dirt into it to create green space or usable land.

"I think it'll come back again," he said. "You have to hope they can fix it."

Awwwwwww.....

They really do go in threes, don't they?

Ray Charles is gone. Wow. And I'm really kicking myself for not seeing him out at Floores Country Store a few years ago. I remember saying to myself at the time, "I need to go see him just to say I did before he dies..." Waaaaah.

Thanks to AlphaPatriot for this:

"Talk about coincidence, here's a bit of trivia you won't read in the mainstream press:

Charles performed at Republican national conventions during Ronald Reagan's years as the party's leader."

From BBC NEWS | Singer snubs Lopez wedding query:

Anthony reportedly married Lopez in a ceremony at the actress's Beverly Hills home on Saturday.

But Anthony refused to confirm the reports during an appearance on NBC's Today show on Tuesday, saying his personal life was off-limits.

I couldn't care less about Marc Anthony or J-Lo, but I did happen to have the Today Show on this morning and saw this ridiculous exchange between Matt Lauer and Anthony.

And I walked away thinking, "Who do these morons think they are?" Do they honestly think that I care whether or not he and J-Lo tied the knot? And that they are so dang important that us "commoners" don't deserve to know? Because their personal life is so sacred? Dude, just say "yes" or "no" and quit acting like a pompous idiot who is too high up the food chain to act like a human being. As if Marc Anthony is anything to write home about (well, I'm writing about him, but it's out of disgust). We're all going to find out eventually that you're married, so let's just all quit with the poser Hollywood thing and move on.

Well, maybe it's all about perception. Maybe if I start walking around and acting like I'm a big-shot star and, "Oh, I've really got to protect my privacy... these media types are just destroying my life..." then maybe people will believe that I'm actually very cool and important. I had a random guy walk up to me yesterday at Fire Wok and tell me that he likes our music -- I thought it was cool to actually get recognized! -- but maybe I should have screamed at him and thrown my Tofu Stir-Fry with ginger-curry sauce on him and told him to leave me alone. That's apparently how I'm supposed to act, if I follow Marc Anthony's lead. Then I'll be cool.

Culture: Watched an intolerably long portion of 7th Heaven last night with Punky. That show, I think, is the worst show on TV right now. It is so poorly written, so spoon-fed, so predictable, so lame... and the mother and that whiney little brat of a daughter need to be hit. Oh, and the twins who always speak in tandem. Apparently the twins (who are like 4) are robots that cannot function apart from one another since one is always needed to finish the other's sentences. Why is this show on? Can you think of a worse way to spend an hour of TV viewing? Man, I need 24 in my life.........

Politik: In May, Kerry Said He Would Support $25 Billion In Emergency Funds For Our Troops. Kerry: ''I will support the Administration's request for emergency funds for our troops. The situation in Iraq has deteriorated far beyond what the Administration anticipated. This money is urgently needed, and it is completely focused on the needs of our troops. We must give our troops the equipment and support to carry out their missions in Iraq and Afghanistan.'' ('Statement from John Kerry on the Administration's Request for $25 Billion in Emergency Funding to Support the Troops,' U.S. Newswire, 5/13/04)

Well, Mr. Kerry, if the money is "urgently needed," why did you skip the vote last week? Good one.........

Weather: It's raining. Of course, we just watered our lawn for two days over the weekend because it was looking dry. Yes. I'm glad I'm going to have a higher water bill now. Yaaay.

Cuisine: Haven't had my coffee yet... but I'm going to go make it and some Spongebob Eggo Waffles. There are innumerable benefits to having a seven-year-old.....

cotton candy

I had a very busy weekend. Lots of things to write about.

Friday night I went back to Hill Country Chapel to do the music for the women's retreat. That was fun... getting to see everyone again was bittersweet. I actually had one person come up to me as I was talking to the youth pastor's wife and say, "Well, I really wish y'all could have been the youth ministers here!" Hello? Hi. I'm sure that made the youth pastor's wife feel nice. I explained that there's a reason for everything and that we know that we're where we're supposed to be.

So then I went home and tried to sleep, but couldn't. It was one of those nights where I woke up 87 times, all wide awake, my body saying to me, "No, really, I'm done sleeping now." I don't like that.

But the last time I woke up that night was around 5:50 AM, and I was in the process of dreaming some really wacky things (well, for one thing, the aliens from the X-Files that don't have any faces were there, along with a baby whose bottom eyelashes were so long that they were braided in a braid that reached her chest)... and thoroughly enjoying this weird dream, when I was awakened by the sound of our car horn honking outside. It totally freaked me out. I looked out the window and couldn't see anything, but as my heart was pounding I ran through several scenarios: a) someone's out there and is jacking with the car, or b) the car horn has a short in it (highly unlikely), or c), well, I didn't have a "c". So in my sleepy reasoning, "a" made the most sense and I wasn't very excited about that prospect. But I went back to sleep nonetheless.

When I finally dragged my sleepy (and sleepless) butt out of bed and was getting my stuff together to go hiking with Flo, I walked out to the car and noticed that the car windows had been left open all night. I peered into the car, and lo and behold, there were paw prints all over the place... on the dashboard, on the seats, and yes, my friend, one lonely pawprint on the horn. A cat, you ask? No, they were not cat prints. We have a family of raccoons that live in our yard, and I guess one of them was after the empty granola bar package in the car. Sneaky sonofagun. What's humorous is the fact that these coons are so dadgum fat that they can barely walk, much less climb anything. Watching him get into the car would have been really funny... and I'm sure the horn scared the crap out of him........

Started rehearsals for "Annie Get Your Gun" with FTC. It's a fun score, despite several numbers that have many flats (playing in all flats sucks). I love Irving Berlin, though, so I can't wait to see how this show comes together.

We practiced in the band hall of Fredericksburg High School, and being in that band hall brought back a flood of memories. It has been almost 20 years since I've been in a band hall, and I remember sitting in mine at Nichols Jr. High and looking around at those big framed band/orchestra yearly roster pictures and thinking that the classes from the years before me looked so dorky and stale. Yesterday they had the photos going back to 1988, and that was my era... now they look dorky and stale. I am old.

Oh, today I ate lunch at Fire Wok and it was fabulous. I am wondering if they are related to (or owned by the same company as) Chipotle. Same concept, different ethnicity. Actually, for me, it was a toss-up today between Chipotle and Fire Wok, but since David doesn't really like Fire Wok and I alone today, I figured I'd take advantage of the opportunity.

I must go do housework now. The life of a domestic goddess, you know.

swimming as exercise

This is becoming a morning ritual: Krispy Kreme Coffee (sans the donuts), blogging, then getting ready for work. I'm liking it. David and Punky are home all day now, so I don't have anyone to get ready and get out the door. This will continue indefinitely, as David keeps very loose office hours at the church (basically whenever he wants to go in) and mainly offices at home. Punky will probably be homeschooled next school year as well. Aaaaaah. A return to freedom........

Punky's cousin Dylan spent the night last night. They are 4 months apart in age and have always been the best of friends. How cool to grow up with an identical cousin! They have never not known each other....... as close as brothers, mostly. Which is good for Punky, being an only child.

We took them swimming yesterday, and since I didn't run yesterday, I swam many laps in the pool. What fabulous exercise... it's the best, I tell you! Not only do you get amazingly tired, but you don't get sore later, it's both cardio and strenghtening, and you don't sweat! Man, why didn't I discover this sooner? Maybe because I've never had a pool at my disposal.

Gotta go download something from microsoft... I'm finally getting with the 21st century and installing RSS Reader......

bluelikethat quiz - Which Chronicles of Narnia book are you?

bluelikethat quiz - Which Chronicles of Narnia book are you?: "

The sixth book written, you're nevertheless the first chronologically. You not only describe the creation of Narnia and tell where the White Witch, the lampost and the wardrobe came from, you get to bounce between worlds with the help of Uncle Andrew's weird magic rings.


Find out which Chronicles of Narnia book you are."

veggie tales

I have 20 minutes to kill before I have to put my running shoes on, so I decided to make some coffee, eat a banana, and blog. Have to run early if I'm going to do it.... it's so dang humid and I have no pool to look forward to (pool doesn't open till 9, I found out).

So I finished my Ted Dekker book last week just in time for Red.... and then I read Red over the weekend. Red is more obviously allegorical than Black; actually, I think it's just that the story is coming together a little more. I'm just hacked off that I've finished the second book and now have to wait till October to get going again! Darn you, Ted Dekker! I am addicted to you!

I just may have to pick up C.S. Lewis' sci-fi trilogy now. Been meaning to do that for decades. Maybe I just need to dive in.... I'm just afraid that my expectations of him will be dashed. Narnia changed my life, and how can anything compare? Still, it's Lewis and I love him and his writing.

Yesterday I went to the grocery store and loaded up on fruits and veggies. When it gets to be this hot outside, I only want raw veggies and fruit. So we feasted last night: Morningstar Farms Veggie "chicken" patties (which taste remarkably like real chicken, much to the delight of David and Punky), stuffed celery, carrots, baby spinach salad (with sunflower seeds), tomato and cucumber salad (which I dressed with this great soy plain yogurt... finally found some... Silk rocks, by the way), and seedless watermelon for dessert. I love being a vegetarian, especially in the summertime. Don't feel all weighted down with meat. Ugh.

Alright. Gotta go post to my other blog and then go running. Yaaay running!

tinfoil

ho-ho-homigosh it's freakin' HOT! I was driving home today and my car thermometer, which is highly accurate, read 104. 104! And it's only MAY! Hard to believe that on May 1st we had a fire in the fireplace, and now it's over 100. Evil, I tell you.

I went running today. Was motivated to actually get my lazy butt out of bed to go running because I told myself that after running and working up a really great sweat, I would dive in the pool and swim some laps. I walked out of my front door and noted that it was so humid that it was hazy out... it literally felt like a sauna. I was drooling at the thought of my reward-swim. The whole run, all I could think of was that pool. And I ran, I ran so far away, and then hightailed it over to that there pool, and wouldn't you know it? The gate was locked. And I couldn't climb the fence because there's razor wire around the top. What a bitter disappointment. Just forget the whole thing.

Maybe tomorrow I'll jump in the river.

Okay, I'm officially declaring "wackos in the Christian bookstore week" officially over. I've had it. I can't take anymore. It's bad enough that they are freaking wierdos (a couple of them are really in need of being committed), but what's even worse is that they call themselves Christians, which really chaps my hide. I AM NOT LIKE YOU! DON'T GIVE ME A BAD NAME! Ugh. Yeah. I had one that gave me a 20 minute lecture on how Bible pages and cigarette paper are made out of the same paper. Not sure what point he was trying to make. The next day, I had Black Helicopter Man come to see me, and everything, literally EVERYTHING was a conspiracy. I had to listen to him for 20-30 minutes or so. That was a fun one. And then Shane had Schizo Man...... yeah, so, here's the announcement: The full moon is over. Everyone go back to your cave. Leave me alone. Stop being wierd.

The week before it was really mean 40-50 year old women. I wanted to come across the counter and strangle some of them. I love it when customers tell me how to do my job. Love it. Can't get enough of it. Ahhhhh, I must need a lesson in patience...............

Pigs are people too.

on the road

I'm posting from Austin at a hotel... we played Borders last night and I found a business center in the hotel where I have internet access, so I thought I'd blog just because I can.

Why is it that when you stay in hotels you get that sleepy, can't drink enough coffee, stiff, dehydrated feeling? We all woke up with majorly puffy eyes and I feel like I'm about to pass out from the sleepiness!

David wanted pizza last night after the gig so we ordered pizza. That's part of the problem I'm sure.

Gig was good... got to see Hank and Sandy and Sarah D.... it was nice to see everyone. Hope we can see Sarah today again. I miss her. We played Borders north, and the only thing about it we didn't like was that for the first half of the night, the crowd was at the back of the cafe (that's just how it's set up there... it runs lengthwise and we were at one end and the tables were at the other.) Makes for a hard time trying to connect with the crowd. But the Borders folks were nice and I think Austin liked us. We need to play up here more. I need to get on the freaking ball and book some dates!

And we're supposed to hook up with Dony too..... that will be fun. Dony is our drummer from the record who is now a writer and writes killer stuff.

I love blogging. I love blogging. I love blogging.

As soon as I figure out how to audioblog, I'm there. That's fun.

Gotta go... Punky is wanting to go swimming. Then he wants to see the Capitol. ;)

Word to your mom.

Know fleas, know itch. No fleas, no itch.

Fleas all gone. Bug bombs make happy house. Thank you.

I woke up Saturday morn with a large headache in mine eye. It must have been the bug bombs. I aired out the house really well Friday night after returning home..... but maybe it was also just psycological because I hate the feeling of having pesticides all over my house. Ugh.

Oh, and then this morning I woke up and noticed right away that things looked, well, funny. I had planned on getting up extra early to go for a run (I hate to run, but I need to run, therefore I decided to run). My alarm went off at 6, and I noticed that my clock looked, well, weird. Got up and stumbled into the kitchen, and realized that I was only seeing out of one eye -- my right contact had somehow fallen out while I was sleeping (must have been some REM sleep!). The problem that immediately presented itself was where I might find said contact at this point... who knows how long it had been out of my eye, and furthermore, where it ended up after its escape. It could be anywhere: in my hair, on the floor, behind my eye.... and darn it, I'm out of extra contacts. I pulled the other contact out and put on my glasses, and then realized that my prescription in my glasses hadn't been updated, well, since college (I realized this as I pulled a bowl down from the cabinet and noticed that it looked like an oval instead of a circle). I eventually found the little bugger under my pillow all shrivelled up like a tiny potato chip, and after a good soak, it was all good. I can see again. Note to self: do not attempt to sleep in contacts that are waaaay too old to even be in my eyes.

I have literally been doing laundry since I got home at 3:30 today. It's now 9:00. I'm almost done, but it's time to go fold.

David's playing a gig with the Sinners tonight, so I'm going to watch old X-Files and eat chocolate and finish my Ted Dekker book. I have to finish it tonight; we're expecting "Red" tomorrow and I really need to be free of all fiction in order to fully appreciate all the goodness that is "Red."

Oh, and Hershey's Kisses are now available in dark chocolate, just so you know. My life is now complete.

Remind me.....

Students Bare All For Rollercoaster Record

LONDON (Reuters) - Over 80 students have thrown caution and their clothes to the wind to set a world record for the number of nudes riding on a rollercoaster.

Remind me never to ride that rollercoaster. Eeeew.....

On Sea World and Fleas

Yeah, so I'm all itchy. The wonderful cat who has moved in with us has fleas... and so I went and got him a flea collar the other day. Spent over $5 on this particular collar; I bought the best one I could find. It claims to kill fleas, their eggs, and ticks immediately. Guess what? The other day, I noticed the cat was scratching his ears (which are, ironically, just inches away from said flea collar), and I grabbed him and looked closely at his little head..... yeah. Fleas all over him, crawling around right next to the collar. Piece of crap! Now I have fleas in the house, fleas on the cat, and I'm out $5! I have to bomb the house tomorrow...... I've been putting it off for a week because you have to do all sorts of preparation for performing such an act: cover all kitchen surfaces, clean up toys so as not to get residue on them, find places for small furry creatures to go during fumigation (the guinea pig can't hang out outside all day... too hot and too many cats).......... blah blah blah. So I dunno. I just know I'm about to start sleeping with OFF! all over me.

Went to Sea World with Punky's class today. That was fun. I got to pet several dolphins. I love dolphins. I want to be a Sea World Trainer in my next life. They were so stinkin' cute! They don't have fleas, either. That's a nice touch.

We had our first official night with the new youth group tonight. They are fun kids. There are about 23 guys and 3 girls. But they are all interesting and interested... they can all actually carry on an intelligent conversation. I was totally expecting the "I'm too cool to talk" attitude that's so prevalent these days. I'm excited about the summer.

I'm gonna get my itchy self to bed and finish this Ted Dekker book I'm reading. I'm addicted to Ted Dekker.

I will not eat popcorn tonight.

Tuesday Quiz is Here!! and other stories.....

In my need for mindless stupidity, I've decided to incorporate a new feature into my already meaningless blog. Are you ready? Ladies, gentlemen, chickens of all ages, I give you........

The Tuesday Quiz!

(how juvenile)

But it's fun, so there. Think "Cosmo Quiz" but even less entertaining.

Here's the first one:

Which member of ABBA are you?

Here's my result:

You are Frida. Ever talented with a lovely voice
and presence, you are constantly overshadowed
by that darn blonde. Down with the Aryians!


Which member of ABBA are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

On a sad note, Sunday was our last day at Hill Country Chapel. I led worship one last time, and cried through most of it (try playing cello in front of 200 people with a runny nose... that's fun.)... but at the end the pastor called us up and had the deacons and elders come and pray over us and send us out. And then the congregation came by at the end of the service and hugged us and told us goodbye... I just bawled. It was so hard. These people have been a huge part of our lives for 6 years now. It really is like leaving a family. David and I have been so used to seeing all these people several times a week, and even the ones we weren't close to were a big part of our weekly lives. It's really wierd that we're not going to see them anymore.

David put in his notice at his job on Monday too. So we are really changing almost everything in our lives with this new job. Not only a new job, but we're totally starting over at a new church, and my heart is still tied to Hill Country Chapel. Ugh. It hurts. But we would not be doing this if we didn't know beyond a shadow of a doubt that this is right. It's been confirmed over and over again......... so it's all going to be okay.

no.

That's a SPIDER, by the way. It's called a camel spider.

I hate camels.

I ALWAYS cover my CDs in jam.......

From the Scotsman.com: Myth of CD immortality is starting to rot away: "'I remember when CDs first came out, Tomorrow's World said they were indestructible and you could cover them in jam. Now it seems that's not true. "

Gosh, I hate it when they're wrong.

LJG Engrish Lyrics of the Week

"Enemy"

The shadow of Churchyard of the river whose England is patient as for the blue light write glance of the song which remembers the memory of the word where you almost speak long with the snow as for him who is overturned directly in former times with him as for the lesson which is not your enemy which is not your enemy it is warm as for him who is learned with the destructive love where summer of the mountain with respect to loneliness of the train of four AM rainy Moonlit song includes with him it is not your enemy which is not your enemy

Aqua Teen Hunger Force

nbc5i.com - News - Man Says Tornado Made Him Try To Kill



Now on trial for the attempted murder, Calton claims he pulled the trigger because he was deeply traumatized after a tornado destroyed his business in April 2002.

rrrrrrrrright.....................

warbler

I don't understand birdwatching.

Maybe when I get to be around 108 and can't hike anymore it will become clear to me. But driving all the way out to Lost Maples just to walk 1/8 of a mile onto the trail and stand there waiting for a bird to appear doesn't appeal to me. Flo and I are all about conquering that hill. Hiking 6.5 miles. Kicking our butts. And for the fellowship... but the thought of standing around with binoculars looking for birds is silly to me and a waste of gas and energy. But that's just me.

So we hiked and i'm tired and now I'm going to a birthday party for one of Punky's friends.

AAAAAARGH!

Blogger is hacking me off. As you can see, my sidebar links appear and disappear at will, and I can't publish half the time.

To make matters worse, there is no working link for support, so I'm royally screwed and about to find another blog service.

:(

space cadet

Gonna keep this short because blogger has been acting up the past few hours.

Latoya London got voted off American Idol. That's dumb. I was so expecting Jasmine to go. And Simon is just totally kissing Fantasia's big toe, and she's just a Macy Gray ripoff.

Man, I need to get a life................

Publish

went to church tonight... last Wednesday night at Hill Country Chapel. It was quite sad. We've worked with these kids for 3 years now, done activities, camp, all sorts of craziness, and have watched them grow up. Now we won't get to be with them anymore....

David is taking on a new job as a youth pastor. They were supposed to vote tonight on it... but it means that we are moving to a new church and starting a new chapter. It's weird and cool and scary and exciting, all at once. I am most concerned for Punky, who has never known any other church, and whose friends are all at Hill Country Chapel. At least we're not moving out of town... at least it's still Pipe Creek and it's just right around the corner.

So I'll be leading the music one more time on Sunday at Hill Country, and then I guess we're gone. That's a really big deal for me... I've done so much growing and healing and ministry in this church. Never thought I'd leave. Never wanted to. Never thought I'd be a pastor's wife... what is that? But I know God is in it and I am so excited about the opportunity. I know David is going to be great.

So there's the news from Lake Wobegon. Peace out........

do you like balloons?

Mexican Air Force Pilots Videotape UFOs

MEXICO CITY (AP) - Mexican Air Force pilots filmed 11 unidentified flying objects in the skies over southern Campeche state, a Defense Department spokesman confirmed Tuesday.

A videotape made widely available to the news media on Tuesday shows the bright objects, some sharp points of light and others like large headlights, moving rapidly in what appears to be a late-evening sky.

The lights were filmed on March 5 by pilots using infrared equipment. They appeared to be flying at an altitude of about 3,500 meters (11,480 feet), and allegedly surrounded the Air Force jet as it conducted routine anti-drug trafficking vigilance in Campeche. Only three of the objects showed up on the plane's radar.

"Was I afraid? Yes. A little afraid because we were facing something that had never happened before," said radar operator Lt. German Marin in a taped interview made public Tuesday.

"I couldn't say what it was ... but I think they're completely real," added Lt. Mario Adrian Vazquez, the infrared equipment operator. Vazquez insisted that there was no way to alter the recorded images.

The plane's captain, Maj. Magdaleno Castanon, said the military jets chased the lights "and I believe they could feel we were pursuing them."

When the jets stopped following the objects, they disappeared, he said.

A Defense Department spokesman confirmed Tuesday that the videotape was filmed by members of the Mexican Air Force. The spokesman declined to comment further and spoke on customary condition of anonymity.

The video was first aired on national television Monday night then again at a news conference Tuesday by Jaime Maussan, a Mexican investigator who has dedicated the past 10 years to studying UFOs.

"This is historic news," Maussan told reporters. "Hundreds of videos (of UFOs) exist, but none had the backing of the armed forces of any country. ... The armed forces don't perpetuate frauds."

Maussan said Secretary of Defense Gen. Ricardo Vega Garcia gave him the video on April 22.

You can see video of the UFOs at the link above. Hooray, UFOs.

::Key X-files theme....::

So I made homemade bread last night... whole wheat this time. Dang. No Atkins dieting for us. It's such an amazing recipe (thank you C.J.!) and half of one loaf is already gone.

I have found a new toy. Krispy Kreme Coffee!!!! I was out of coffee Friday night, needing some for Saturday morning, knowing I would be miserable without it... but I didn't want to stop at the grocery store and get coffee. I hate going into Super Walmart for one item... it really bites. So David decided he wanted donuts (it was 10:30 pm, mind you), and we drove through the KK drive-thru on the way home from our Borders gig. To make things easy, I bought a pound of their Bold blend, and it is fabulous. And cheap! Mmmmmmm. I won't go into detail about the donuts. Again, we are NOT on Atkins......... I'm so glad donuts don't have meat in them. That means I can eat them. See? Justification.

Oh yeah, so we played Borders Friday night at the Quarry. Borders set up a table for us to put our CDs and other merch on, and it was very obviously a merch table. So this guy pulls up a chair at the table and plops down and begins to read a magazine. He's totally blocking our stuff from people who want to look at our CDs... and the thing is, there are several other tables that are empty nearby. He sat there for a minute, and I went over to the table, rearranged all the stuff so it would look more like an occupied table of stuff, obviously being used for something. I figured he just didn't get it and would figure it out. We start to play our gig, and he comes back, sits down at the table and hangs out. Then one of his friends comes over to talk to him, and sits down on our merch box at the table and they just have a gay old time there at our table. Of course, no one listening to us is able to go over and sign our email list or grab a CD because of these two gearboxes......... what is wrong with people? I don't remember people being so blatantly rude 10 years ago. Oooooh, I wanted to yank that ring out of his eyebrow and call him bad names. Ahem. Sorry. I have an anger problem.

Alright... gotta go to work.

Don't let the terrorists win.

shiny!

Oh, this is nice! I'm digging the new look... what do you think? I had the other for 2 years. This one has archives... you can actually see what I wrote last year if you want. The other didn't.

I'm still working on getting all my links back. Work in progress.

You like?

eeeeeeew!

Do you want to see what I almost stepped on this morning while walking barefoot through my kitchen in the dark? ugh! ech! gross! BLECH!!!



Omigosh, and they are poisonous. Okay. I thought I hated scorpions more than any creature on the planet, but I think this grotesque beast has to be right up there too.

Here's the lowdown on this jerk....

I love this!

A Scavenger Hunt Like No Other

This is awesome. I want to go.

mmmm.....chocolate.

Woman buys 10,656 chocolate bars

See, they report it as wierd news, but I'd buy 10,656 chocolate bars if I had the money (which reportedly cost her over $3000).

Chocolate. It's the new black.

This post is dedicated to Flo, my chocolate partner-in-crime..........

Wasted

Man, I'm freaking exhausted. We had a very busy day yesterday. Actually, a very busy weekend........

Did a lot of "churching" yesterday. We led the music at Pipe Creek FBC they had a little lunch thing in the fellowship hall for us afterwards. Then we did a few tunes at Trinity Church last night, and I didn't sleep well the night before, so by the time 9:00 hit last night we were both dead on our feet. Our lives are about to get really crazy... crazy, like, "Omigosh, I can't believe this is my life" crazy. But good. I can talk more about it after the 12th. I'll give you the whole rundown then.

We got home yesterday afternoon and drove by the pool, and people were swimming! Huh? Yeah, it may be May 1, but it was only like 75 out. Brrrrrr.......... especially after the night before when it got down to 45 here. We actually had a fire in the fireplace! Such Texans, I know.

Has anyone heard Patty Griffin's new CD yet? I have been dying to get it, but alas, we are broke right now. B-R-O-K-E. R-E-S-P-E-C-T. No, no respect. Just broke. Broke and without respect. Anyway, post a comment if you've heard it. Tell me if it's "Flaming Red" or "1000 Kisses."

This post is dedicated to Sarah Dowling, who lovingly sent me her King Ranch Chicken recipe. Thank you Sarah. You are a chicken!

:)

Subservient Chicken is my best friend

Omigosh! This is my most favorite website ever. I love the chicken. Try it. Tell him to do anything... anything... Subservient Chicken

Umm... so... we got talked about on the radio today. That was cool. Jeff Bolton came out to our release party Friday night and gave us props today. Thanks Jeff! You rock!

Yeah, the release party at Cibolo Creek was super fun! We had this monster band... Shane, Rick Brown, Ruben V., Val Cronk, Brian on dobro, and Ron on guitar... it was so cool. It was great for us to do the whole band thing, since we so rarely get to do that... it was a blast. And everyone who was there was so great... Kyle and Flo, Doug and Rebecca, David's whole family... Travis Baker brought his whole youth group... lots and lots of friends from everywhere... I can honestly say that each person who was there that night was very special to us and it was so cool to have them all there in one place.

David and I are on the brink of some really cool changes, which I can't talk about now, but I'll just say that we're about to take a path we never thought we'd take... but we're very excited about the future. After this weekend I'll be able to share more. Cool things ahead.......

ohboy.... it's 5:00. I'll write more tonight.

Oddly Enough News Article | Reuters.com

I'd take cheese to space too.

Cats and waterbeds don't mix.

Okay. So we have this great waterbed... a softside... y'know... the kind that doesn't look like a waterbed. With a really thick pillowtop on top of the water mattress... and also a LOT of bedding. Thick comforter and the like.

So the night of our release party, David wakes up in the middle of the night totally soaked, thinking he's been sleeping a little to heavily and that he had wet the bed. To make matters worse, my parents were in town and he was all embarrassed! And of course, I'm thinking, "Ewwwww!"

The next night David wakes up and is totally wet again. So at 5 AM on Easter morning, as I was rushing around getting ready for this crazy day of church services at very ungodly hours, I pull back the pillowtop and take a look at the water mattress... oh yeah. Big leak. Only I can't seem to find where it's coming from! In my haste to get out the door, I decide I'll mess with it later and put the bed back together. Oh, and David is very relieved (no pun intended) to know that he doesn't have an incontinence problem. Although I'm beginning to feel like I'm living the X-Files episode where Mulder is doomed to relive the same Monday every day... and it always begins with his waterbed leaking....

Later that night, after we get rid of all our family and are ready to totally crash, I remember the leak, and, determined to find it, I disassemble the bed again and start poking and prodding and draining and pushing... for 5 hours. My search relentless, I manage to cover every single inch of that mattress from head to foot, topside and bottom, and still cannot find the leak. So, at 10:30 at night, exhausted from a very busy day, I give up, fill up the bed, and as I'm putting the pillowtop back on, I see water gushing from a small hole in the bottom corner. So obvious! But still a puzzle, as it's nowhere near David.... can't figure out how it managed to saturate his whole side. And we still can't figure out how the hole got there, so by default this new cat of ours gets the blame, because he's the only one with talons that's been anywhere near the bed (even though, mind you, we have a pillowtop and blankets and comforters and such covering it all).

Dumb cat. But let me tell you about this cat. We LOVE him. He showed up on our deck one day, stood up on his hind legs, put his paws on our sliding glass door, and meowed. I, being the sucker for strays, opened the door, and he immediately came in and curled up on the couch, where he has stayed ever since. He is the most codependent, love-obsessed kitty I have ever met. He literally cannot get enough attention. He is one of those rare cats that will drape himself across anything, is comfortable in any position, and will let you do anything to him, as long as he is being loved on in some way. No matter where I am, there he is also. He thrives on attention, needs it constantly, and will let you know if he feels he isn't getting enough... usually by following you around and yelling at you until you pet him. Basically, as he sees it, I exist to pet him. When I lay down on my bed at night, immediately he is on my feet or curled up under my arm ready for his lovin'.

But today.... today, apparently, he is feeling a deep sense of injustice because I made him go outside for the day. When I let him in, I was busy with laundry and with phone calls and such, so Mr. Entitlement didn't get his quota of chin scratches and belly rubs. Around 5:30, I went into my room to fold laundry, had taken the sheets off the bed to wash them, and I noticed a giant wet spot on my side of the bed. My immediate thought was, "ANOTHER LEAK?!!! Dangit!" And then I caught the slightest whiff of a scent I haven't smelled in years, having not had a cat around since I was 18. Yeah. The freakin' cat pee'd on my bed! And I can guaran-darn-tee it that he did it out of spite... mind you it was my side of the bed, and he knows it good and well... and he was mad because I wasn't giving him the proper amout of attention he felt he deserved.

He's banned to the great outdoors for the night.

So far so good... the forecast is calling for sunny days through Saturday. So we have a really good chance of having our CD release party outside Friday night at the Scenic Loop.

I'm getting excited now. We have blitzed the media as best we can for this one... so we'll see what happens. And we have a couple of weeks to breathe before the next 2... I can't wait to get these CDs out into the world.

We'll be on KFAN tomorrow. Love the Fan. They have been so supportive....

Oh, y'know, I forgot to change my clocks last night. Not that it matters -- we weren't going anywhere this morning, but I just realized as I looked at my computer clock that it's really 9:23. I'm excited about more daylight. Hooray daylight!

Played for Chris' release party last night... that was hugely fun. Although Chris made fun of me playing guitar... said it looked weird, because he's not used to seeing me play. I'll forgive him, I suppose.

I have a feeling, once everyone in my house wakes up, that I'm going to be commissioned to make french toast again. I made it yesterday and it was a huge hit. But if I make it again, I'm going to have to go to the store to get bread and eggs. I hate going to the store... especially the one in Bandera. It's ratty, overpriced, and most of the customers still smoke in the aisles as they shop (haven't seen that since like 1978 in the rest of the world!)... Bandera is such a strange town. They actually ride horses to the local bar... we see them tied up outside the bar on Friday nights. David and I figured out why so many people ride their horses on Friday nights: so they can go home drunk and not get busted for DUI! I guess as long as the horse knows the way home, you're pretty okay if you pass out while riding....

Grrrr..... was supposed to go hiking today. I should be getting ready for Lost Maples right now. But my hiking partner blew me off again so here I sit..... grrrrrr........

And to make matters worse, I'm out of coffee. Oh well, I've got a cup of Tazo Chai tea brewing right now, which won't wake me up, but at least I'll feel like I'm doing something.

Last night we had the most spectacularly gorgeous rainbow behind our house. Our house is on a cliff that overlooks a river below, and the rainbow made a complete arc from one side of the cliff to the other... more vivid than any rainbow I've ever seen (you could see every color)... and there was a second one just above it that spanned about halfway across the gorge. I wish I had a camera!

Tonight we are playing with Chris for his CD release party at Cibolo creek... there are around 19 people in this band tonight, so it's going to be interesting logistically! Chris always manages to pull these crazy things off, though, so I'm not worried.

Our first CD release party is next Friday at the Scenic Loop! I'm excited and a little nervous... I hope we have more than 4 people show up. I'm interested to hear what the loyal fans think of the new stuff... we haven't had any feedback yet. I just hope they like it.

Punky and I have started reading "The Chronicles of Narnia" at night before bed. I love Narnia. Narnia shaped my entire existence when I was a kid... so much of who I am today is because I read Narnia in my formative years, I believe. Oh, I loved those stories! And it's so good to be reading them again and sharing them with my son. I was a little concerned that they would be too advanced for him, what with the language being almost Victorian stylistically (it's certainly not "See Spot Run," which is what he is used to). But I remember gaining much of my vocabulary from hearing those books read to me, and they gave me a love for literature and fantasy and depth... I'm sure that's why I ended up majoring in Brit Lit... it's always been close to my heart. Anyway, we're reading "The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe" right now, so we've only just begun.

As we were reading last night, Edmund had just come into the White Witch's castle, and he finds a stone lion upon entering the courtyard. It reminded me of being in London, stumbling onto the South Gate Lion (I think it's called) at the end of Westminster Bridge, and how much that stone lion looks like what I always envisioned Aslan to look like. I love that lion! I have a picture somewhere... I'll have to post it.

Okay, must... go... clean. My house is ugly.

This post is dedicated to my brother Ed, who has recently relocated to DC, and who loves Narnia as much as I. "Oh, do, let's!"

Okay, so I got scolded for not upddating my blog, and I promised that I would be better. It's like 6:15 am and I'm barely awake... haven't had coffee yet... in fact... hang on.

Yeah, that's better. Because decaffeinated blogging just doesn't work.

Took Flo out for her birthday Tuesday night and we had our quad cappucinos around, well, 9:30 or so... "Why?" you ask. Well, because we never get to go get coffee anymore, and decaf quad cappucinos are pretty much pointless. So I got home and was wide awake and stayed up till 1:30 putting together mailers for our preorders.

Tuesday I was off work all day, and had one of the most productive days I've had in awhile... it felt so good to actually knock out some of this LJG stuff that's been hanging over my head! So we've actually started sending out the preorders and that makes me feel like we're finally moving forward with this CD release. I drove around much of Tuesday, dropping off press kits and buying office supplies. I had our Chevy Cavalier with the sunroof that day, and I have a nice sunburn working on one arm. Sexy!

We are still loving our house... I swear it's like living in the Wonderful World of Disney at times. Every night when I'm pulling into my drive, there are usually around 4-6 deer, 3-4 jackrabbits, and 2 skunks that all run in various directions trying to escape the terror of my headlights. The other night I was doing the dishes while Punky was in the bathtub, and I heard all sorts of commotion on the porch. I looked out, and 2 raccoons were fighting over the catfood (well, one was eating it and the other was yelling at the one eating). I summoned Punky and we opened the door a crack to see them better, and they just sat up on their haunches, continued to eat, and looked at us like, "What?" We were at most 2 feet from them. It was cool.

And we have a fleet of cats now too. One cat, Lizzie, came with the house. But I think she's got a big mouth and has told her friends that there's free grub at the house, because suddenly 3 more grey tabbies showed up. One of them is a tortishell tabby, and he's gorgeous, and he has totally adopted us. I swear I'm turning into one of those crazy animal ladies. Before you know it, I'm going to have 89 cats and a pet squirrel all stuffed into my laundry room....

I'm having coffee angst. I actually had to buy Folgers the other day (blasphemy! treachery!) because that's what I've been reduced to since my espresso machine is dead and I was desperate on a Saturday morning for coffee. Well, see, I could have gotten some decent coffee, but that would have required driving at best 45 minutes into San Antonio. I was too sleepy, so I settled for driving into Bandera and paying way too much at Super S. Ugh. For Folgers. See what my life has become? It's a travesty.

Okay, so I guess I should go get ready for work. CJ (and CJs sister), this blog was updated just for you, so I hereby dedicate this entry to you. It's the least I can do... I got added to their list of "cool people." Awwwww.........