Something Old, Something New

No, I'm not getting married. Sorry mom.

Tomorrow here in Central Texas we are supposed to be getting some "winter weather". Oh boy. The high temps are going to be in the mid 30s, and it's supposed to precipitate, so the forecasters are calling for the-possibility-of-a-chance-of-we-could-see-some-snow-flurries-with-some-light accumulation-on-the-grassy-areas-perhaps-between-2-to-3-inches.

You would think WWIII was about to roll through town, the way people are freaking out. I went to the grocery store after work today to pick up some batteries and everyone and their brother was there. I ran into no fewer than 7 kids from my school, and the lines were outrageous. I find it highly amusing, and yet very annoying (especially in the store situations) that the people down here hear the word "snow" and they think they better stock up because "who knows when we'll be able to get out to the store again". Oh for crying out loud. It's snow, people! It's supposed to melt by Saturday morning, and it won't even make the roads slick. Geesh.

Also, the school was all a-buzz today with talk of cancellations and snow days and inclement weather and buses and what would we do if? like questions. Bunch of ninnies. I'm not saying it's not been chilly down here - for Texas this weather is unusual, especially this time of year, and it

hasn't taken long for my blood to thin out and for me to become acclimated to the weather. However, snow isn't anything to freak out about. Do you hear me people of Central Texas? I declare,

"SNOW ISN'T ANYTHING TO FREAK OUT ABOUT - ESPECIALLY NOT 2-3 FARKING INCHES!!!!!!!"

Moving on...

That wasn't what I wanted to blog about today. I realized that I haven't posted since my trip up to Michigan for Thanksgiving, so I thought I'd better remedy that. I'm not going to post a bunch of boring pictures of my family and I on Thanksgiving (that doesn't mean I didn't take a bunch, just that I'm not going to post them you see) or bore you to death with the details of my trip. I'll just say that it was fabulous and everything I'd hoped it would be. The food was great, I got to see some friends and hang out with my cousins and aunts and mom. In fact, my mom and I went yarn shopping and I picked up some new sock yarn and some Noro. But those are boring details that I promised to spare you.

Christmas came a little early for me this year while I was up north. My grandmother gave me a wonderful gift!

My Gram and I on Thanksgiving (Ok, so I posted one boring picture of me and my family)

Here's the back story. When I was a little girl, I loved my Grandmother's house at Christmas time. It was filled with familiar faces, food, smells and decorations. My favorite decoration of all was this ceramic music box that I believe on of my aunts had painted and given to my Gram. It

depicted Santa snoozing in his chair, near the fire, and had a Christmas tree with 2 elves on either side that rotated around, which was how you wound up the music box. It played The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire....), and it amused me for hours. I would wind those elves up and happily watch it turn. I don't know why I loved it so, but I always have.

My Grandmother gave it to me this year.

It's probably my favorite Christmas decoration that I have now. And I have a lot. It looks like Christmas threw up in our house. But I love it that way.

The Cowboy and I are scaling back our Christmas gifts to each other this year, for various reasons. One of the things I had asked for, before we decided to keep it simple, was brand new bedding. The whole shebang. Bed skirt, comforter, pillows, sheets, etc. Our dogs, I love them, but they tear shit up. And to be fair, I'd had my old quilt on the bed for a few years now, and it was time for something nicer and newer. Grown up bedding. Well, The Cowboy surprised me yesterday with an early Christmas present!

This isn't the best picture, and it's still a little wrinkly from being in the package, but here's our new bedding! We set it all up, I took a quick picture, and then we had to cover it all up with the "dog blanket", which is our old quilt, which we are keeping on top of the new stuff, so the dogs don't tear it up. I wish we could see the bedding all the time, but it makes me happy just knowing it's there, and I love sleeping in new sheets.

Well, I'm off to watch the weather report and laugh at some fools. I hope it does snow, though. That would be pretty neat to see. But I'm not gonna lose my cool over it or anything.

Good Things

Here is a list (I love lists!) of the latest and greatest in my life. Because I know you've all been waiting with baited breath on tenterhooks on the edge of your seat for this.

Thanksgiving

My cousin Ang called me last weekend and asked if I wanted to drive up to Michigan for Thanksgiving with her. Um, does a bear shit in the woods? The answer is yes. I haven't been back to Michigan for Thanksgiving since I moved down here, so it will be my first "My Family Meal" since 2005. I am EXCITED. I mean no disrespect to The Cowboy or his people, but you know how Thanksgiving with anyone else's family just isn't quite the same. The food is always different. Not necessarily bad different, but different, and I look forward to eating familiar, wonderful, comforting food this year.

Because we're leaving in one week, I've been scrambling to get my Christmas shopping (for those in Michigan) done so I can bring it with me and save me an ass ton on shipping. Well, I haven't really been "scrambling", so much, as I've been loving every minute of it. It gave me an official excuse to get into the Christmas spirit. I try to show a normal amount of restraint when it comes to music, decorations and shopping, but my pending trip north allowed me to throw caution to the wind and dive nose first into Christmas Time. I'm a happy clam. Y'all know how I feel about Christmas.

It's Back!

Hey speaking of Christmas, look what's back on the store shelves!!

I love this stuff. I bought 3 2-liters today, only to get home and discover that one of them is diet. DAMMIT. Oh well, that will be the stuff I use to mix with the vodker. That way I won't taste it as much. Speaking of drinks....

Box-o-Wine

I was leery of the wine in a box concept. Perhaps because my only experience with it was Franzia White Zinfandel. And that shit is nasty. But recently, I was at my friend Christy's house (mom of BSP) and she offered me a glass of wine, which of course I accepted, and it was a glass from a box-o-wine. And it was good. And I was shocked. And then I was happy. And I was all, "Mmm this is good." And she was all "Yeah it's from a box." And I was all "Shut up!" And she was all "No, it's true". And then she showed me, and it was true. The end.

Target has their Wine Cubes on sale this week - $15.99. And there is the equivalent of 4 bottles in one box. For SIXTEEN DOLLARS. That is $4 a bottle. I did the maths, you can trust me. And it stays good in your fridge for up to 4 weeks (if it lasts that long, which it won't at my house and if you need any help polishing your box off, please let me know). Now, it's not the best quality wine I've ever had. But it sure as shit ain't the worst either. It falls somewhere right in the middle. For $16, I will take it. I am enjoying a glass right now as I type this.

There's my box-o-wine, nestled happily on the shelf in the fridge. What's that? You say that you see a six pack of beer, a bottle of champagne AND a bottle of vodka in the fridge? No, we do not have a problem. No, that orange juice was not purchased for the sole purpose of making mimosas. No, I do not need 12 steps. Let's move on.

Oranges!

The Cowboy bought some fruit trees this year. Apple, lemon, lime and orange. So far, we haven't produced any real quality fruit, but he tells me that it sometimes takes a full year for the trees to produce. However, when I took the dogs outside the other morning, I noticed this:

!!!!!! It looks almost ready to eat. Perhaps I'll cut it up and float it on top of my mimosas. I'm KIDDING. Geesh, lighten up.

Baby Hats

A girl I work with and her husband are adopting a little girl. The pick her up tomorrow, and we are having a baby shower for them at work on Monday. The little girl is 19 months old, and has Chromosome 18, which is a disorder I'm told is similar to Down Syndrome. She is the sweetest, cutest little thing (they've had her on weekends now for several months), and her name is Alyssa. I don't have any pictures, but if I get some I will post them. Natch, I made a hat for her.

And another for my friend Sarah's daughter, Elbow Macaroni.

I am loving these hats - they knit up in several hours and are so cute. Hats for everyone!

And the last Good Thing in my life right now is

This dog.

She is so sweet. To put it simply, I love her.

Hope you all have a great weekend!

Double D

This blog is not about breasts. If you've seen the title and have come here looking for information or pictures pertaining to hooters, fun bags, jugs, golden bozos, or any of the like, I am sorry to disappoint you, but you've come to the wrong blog. AND the wrong lady.

Rather, this blog is about my trips this past week to the 2 D's. Dallas and Detroit. First let me just say that moving away from where you were born, raised and lived for 27 years and then going back and trying to cram in 27 years of friends, family and former co-worker visits in 4 and a half days is exhausting. I never got so little sleep in my life and if there's one thing we know about me, it's that I need my sleep. So if I didn't get to see you while I was there, or if I did see you, but not enough, I am sorry.

I have compiled a series of highlights, lowlights, and observations pertaining to my trips.

Lowlight
Started the vacation off my locking my keys in my car upon my arrival in Dallas. Along with my luggage. All. Locked. In. After using a few choice expletives, and Benny trying his hardest to break into my car with a coat hanger (I'm sure his neighbors loved that), I decided to sleep on it and call a Locksmith in the morning. The Locksmith comes, does the exact same thing I'd seen Benny doing the night before (only with an official looking un-bent coat hanger thingy) and within 60 seconds - POP. $50 later and I have my things and my keys. Great way to begin the vacation.

Highlight
Got to see the Detroit Tigers kick the Texas Rangers' asses at Ranger Stadium with the cousins. 13-5 and it wasn't even that exciting. I like a little more action in my baseball games, but this at least somewhat made up for the Tigers losing so badly to the Astros when The Cowboy and I went down to Houston.


































Me, Matthew and Ang.

Observation
Dallas is just about as hot as Austin. And the baseball game was outside. Hi, I'm Sweaty.















Highlight
Ann Arbor is even more beautiful in the summer than I remember. Sadly, I don't have a picture to show you. But everything is even more green and wonderful than my memories showed. Austin is a pretty green area of Texas, but I truly had forgotten how verdant (big word alert) everything looks up there this time of year. Not to mention that it was barely 80 degrees every day and actually pleasant to be outdoors.

Lowlight
It got cold at night. Friday night we sat outside on my friend Lisa's patio and drank and laughed (and laughed, and laughed....oh, and laughed) and it got down into the 60's. I was ccccccccold. I could see my breath. It hasn't taken me long to acclimate to Texas weather.















Apparently, when I'm cold, I look like a thug.

Observation
At first I had trouble remembering what radio stations I used to listen to, so I did a scan and found a country station. Country stations up in Detroit are WAY different than the ones down here. They play almost completely different music. I heard a few songs that I may have heard down here, but on the whole, it was different stuff. Weird.

Highlight




















Got to eat at The Heidelberg, one of my favorite Ann Arbor restaurants, with some of my favorite people.















Me, Marcie, Lisa and Charlene (more blogs to come on these clowns SOON)

Lowlight
Lisa (and I, maybe) couldn't stop laughing and they almost kicked us out.





























































Oh wait, that wasn't a lowlight. It was another highlight. And they didn't really almost kick us out. We were the only people in there. We always are the only people in there. I don't know how that place stays open. I also don't know how they make such delicious pork chops.

Observation
Labatt's Blue Light and Bell's Oberon Ale both taste just as wonderful and delicious as I remember them tasting. I wasn't sure of that after the first one. Or the second. I needed to make absolute certain of it, so I drank quite a few.








































Yep, still tasty.

Lowlight




















I didn't absolutely love the Harry Potter movie*. I didn't hate it. It was ok. And I think if I watched it again I would enjoy it more the second time. But the problem is that I am a HP purist. And I'd just re-read the book, which is clearly a mistake and setting myself up for failure. I know they can't possibly include everything from the books in the movies, but I feel (since you asked) there are certain vital pieces of information which were just barely touched on or left out all together. There are going to be a lot of holes to fill in the beginning of the next movie. I'll shut up now, I'm even annoying myself with all this HP movie talk. Let's just say I was disappointed.

*(For those of you who don't know the story.....my friend from high school Sarah and I have seen every HP movie together since they came out. She flew down to Texas 2 years ago to see Order of the Phoenix, so it was my turn to fly up for Half Blood Prince. The movie came out 3 weeks ago, but Sarah and I waited not so patiently so we could see it together. A lot of hype. A lot of buildup.)

Highlight
I got to spend lots of quality time with Sarah and her girls.




















This is Cate. She will be 4 in a few weeks.




















She had been practicing her "rope tricks" for weeks and was very excited to show me. I'm not sure what Sarah and her husband have told Cate about Texas, but I do know it involves rope tricks, horses and cowboys. Is this how all northerners (read: Yankees) see us?




















Cate is very stylish.




















This is Ellie, Cate's sister. We call her Elbow. She was 1 in April. I've seen some cute kids. I've featured them on my blog.




















This kid? Takes the cute cake.





















I can barely form sentences about how much I love her.





















Sarah is a good mommy.

Observation




















The apron I made for Sarah is my best work yet. Sarah loved it. She's requested one for Cate.

Lowlight
Lisa's precious and wonderful children, Maddie




















and Abby (whose bed I slept in)




















had head lice, unbeknownst to us at the time of my overnight visit. So Lisa had to call me and tell me and apologize for my potential exposure to the little bugs.

Highlight
I don't think I actually got the lices, but just to be safe, Heather and I bought a kit and treated my hair anyway.




















If you've never had to treat lice in your hair or someone else's - be thankful. It's a pain in the arse, and I didn't even have any bugs or eggs in my hair. If I had, I imagine it would have been worse. Heather and I made the most out of it, though, with some more help from Oberon and some good old fashioned trashy reality teevee.

Observation
Gavin is Heather's kid 100%. (or maybe 50%, I never was any good at maths and reproduction)





















His buckets contained, at various points throughout the evening: blueberries, popcorn, chicken, fries and lettuce. I think we have a future "Monster" in the making.















And when those snacks weren't enough, he improvised.




















Gavin's fashion sense leaves a lot to be desired, but at least he's comfortable.


Highlight
Had lunch at Zingerman's, and I can't recall the last time I ate there. It had been years.


















Lowlight
Needed to take out a small loan to afford my sandwich, and remembered why I didn't eat there very often even when I lived in Ann Arbor.














Observation
The #54, Wayne's Inheritance (not pictured), was just as delicious as it used to be, and (grudgingly) worth the $12.00.


Highlight
I got to see most of my family while there.

Lowlight
I don't have any pictures of them.

Observation




















I took this picture for My Lady, who would kill me if she knew that I didn't actually eat there, just stopped by long enough to get a picture. So the official story (if she ever asks) is that I ate there and it was delicious and the proprietor (who we call Lai Lai) is alive and well.

Lowlight
On the plane ride back to Dallas, the kid (11 or 12 years old) sitting directly behind me sneezed no fewer than 30 times. Loudly. And I'm not sure he covered his mouth once. He could have, I suppose. I wasn't about to turn around and look at him and risk getting sneezed on in the face. But every time I'd lean my head against the window and try to doze off.....AHHHHCHOOOOOO. And all I could think about was airborn germs and SARS and bacteria and getting sick. No rest for the weary on the plane.

Highlight
I saw Eddie Montgomery, from the country duo Montgomery Gentry, at the airport. In fact, I'm pretty sure he was on my flight. But I for sure stood near him durring baggage claim, and also while we were waiting for our rides. My ride came in the form of Ang and Benny, his in the form of his monstrous tour bus with a sign that said "Eddie Montgomery" on the front, and "Montgomery Gentry" on the back.




















He did not have on his big black hat or trench coat. In fact, he was dressed like a regular dude. He had on a backwards baseball cap, shorts and a t-shirt. He was just standing there with another guy (not Gentry) chatting and waiting for his bag. No bodyguards or entourage or anything. I guess he's not that high profile, and can still travel without being recognized.

Confession
I did not recognize him at first. It wasn't until I saw him get on the tour bus that I actually looked at him and thought it might be him, and not until I looked him up on the interwebs that I realized that it was, in fact, Eddie Montgomery. Otherwise you know I would have gotten my camera out and taken a picture. I have no shame.

In Summary...
It was a great trip, if a little short and rushed. Thanks to everyone who put me up, paid for a meal, drove me to or from the airport, and combed my hair for bugs.

The Cowboy and I are off on another vacation next week, this time to Palo Duro Canyon. It's my last week of summer vacation, and then it's back to work for me.

Sniffle.

Y-Town

As you all know, I currently reside in a suburb north of Austin, TX. But this is not where I am from. Nossir. I was born and raised in a wee little town in Michigan called Ypsilanti. Or, as the natives call it, Ypsi or Y-town.














Ypsi is located just west of Detroit, and east of Ann Arbor which is of course home to the University of Michigan. There is a lesser known University in Y-town, Eastern Michigan University.














Near this great University is Ypsi's most well known attraction, The Water Tower. The Giant Phallic Shaped Water Tower. Paul Bunyan's Penis.















Ypsilanti is also well known from the smash 1983 hit song "Back to Ypsilanti" by native Lee Osler. You can download and listen to that song here. I love the dotcoms and the fact that you can find randy crappy music about obscure towns from 26 years ago.

And of course, Ypsi is also the birthplace of Domino's Pizza.



















A penis shaped water tower, a really bad 80's song, and the worst pizza I've ever tasted. These are all things to be proud of. Ah, who am I kidding? We got nothing. Ypsi's got nothing.

But there is hope on the horizon. For Ypsilanti, hope is currently residing in the one person who could potentially put us on the map. For good.












Matt Giraud, current contestant on season 8 of American Idol.

American Idol tells you he's from Kalamazoo (another Michigan town with a funny name), which is where he currently lives, but he was raised in Ypsilanti. My boy is representing Y-town every week, and, in my opinion, doing us proud.

He's had some off weeks, I will admit. He's not the strongest singer or performer on the stage. And I don't realistically expect him to win the whole competition (sorryMattifyou'rereadingthisIstillloveyoucallmeok?). But I do expect him to stick around for a few more weeks, and I'd like to see him get into the final 4. The judges used their save on him last night, so that must mean they see something in him that is worth keeping him around. If you haven't been watching Idol because you live under a rock, then I can tell you that he is soulful yet shy. Sweet yet sexy. Talented, cute, and has been compared the both Justin Timberlake and Michael Buble.

















He rocked out a Stevie Wonder song last week (Part Time Lover), and I am a Stevie purist, generally believing that people should leave his work alone, because no one can touch him (case and point, Megan Joy who did a Stevie song a few weeks prior and it was AWFUL). Matt was amazing.

He needs your votes to stay in the competition!! I would hate to see him go home next week after the judges saved him this week.

So, on behalf of the people of Ypsilanti, Michigan, I am asking you all to VOTE FOR MATT this week!!! Consider it a personal favor to me. Lee Osler and I thank you.

Also, Matt, we totally think that you should sing "Back to Ypsilanti" for your final Idol performance. Really seal the deal. Let 'em know. Loud and proud. Y-TOWN.










(PS for the record, I am very proud of my hometown and love Ypsilanti. There are a lot of great things about it, but for the purpose of blogging, Matt's success on the show, and good humor, I only wrote about what I felt like writing about, which is pretty much how I roll all the time)

Winter Wonderland

Yes, I realize it's long past Christmas. And technically, here in Austin, today it's 75 degrees. But since a week ago I was freezing my butt off in Michigan, and I haven't blogged in nearly 2 weeks, I reserve the right to use the above title.

Merry Christmas, Happy New Year and all that jazz. I hope everyone had a great holiday season. Mine was great. I feel like I don't even know where to begin to blog in order to try and catch everyone up with what's been going on. And then I decided I don't really care, I'm just gonna go for it. So up first is all the winter fun The Cowboy and I had in Michigan.

Let me begin by saying that we drove up in 1 day - 22 hours to be exact - only stopping to eat, pee, and get gas. Sometimes all in one stop. The Cowboy, God Bless him, drove all but 5 hours of that journey, and those 5 hours really wiped me out. I'm a wimp. Anyway, we didn't have ANY inclement weather or bad weather on the journey up (or home, for that matter). It was a completely uneventful trip, except that I was actually able to knit for quite sometime and ordinarily, I can't knit (or read) in a moving vehicle. So that was quite an accomplishment for me.

I digress. We didn't hit snow until about Toledo, which is about 40 minutes from my mom's house. Now let me tell you that the way my mom, my aunts, cousins and friends were talking, I was expecting to hit blizzards in Kentucky. Not so much. A little dusting of snow in Dayton, OH, but otherwise no snow until we hit Michigan for the most part.

But then, when we hit Michigan,.....oh boy.

Snow galore. Inches and inches of it.

Here's Lloyd, atop a mound of snow on a table on my mom's deck.

And it continued to snow the day we got there. The roads were awful. Snow was everywhere. What do you do when you're from Texas and you go up to Michigan and you are surrounded by more snow than you've ever seen before?

Why, you build a snowman. Of course.

I've never seen The Cowboy so excited. Me? Eh. I could take it or leave it. It was fun for 10 minutes. But The Cowboy, being from Texas, had to have a BIG GIANT Snowman. Because everything is bigger in Texas, and he wanted that rule to apply to his snowman. I got bored. Fast. And cold.

So I took lots of breaks.

But The Cowboy's snowman-shaping technique was sloppy, so I had to step in and assist.

Lloyd, I'd like to mention, was no help whatsoever. He was busy making snow-gnome-angels.

We both look like idiots in this one.

Our efforts paid off. Introducing......

Arnold. I don't know why we named him that, but we did, and it stuck. Arnold and Lloyd.

The whole fam.

I loved Arnold. He was a great and loyal snowman. For 3 days. And then, tragedy struck.

Ah, what are you gonna do?