We Interupt This Blog

For a limited time due to a family getaway to NYCDon't worry, the blog will return Wednesday with no lost episodes.

D... & Goliath

Sunday we had the good fortune to see the Astros play the Red Sox at Minute Maid Park. It was the 1st time ever for Boston to play in Houston. I was surpised at how the fans acted. I really thought we might be at Fenway rather than Minute Maid the way the fans cheered and booed. A much difference experience than when we saw the Astros play the Yankees a couple of weeks earlier.

But, that's not the point of this. This is all about the giant of a man who sat next to me. He had to squeeze in the seat and he spilled over into my space. His clap was like a sonic boom that made my ears ring. And his hands blocked my view of home plate. His voice was louder than all the Red Sox fans put together. Can you tell how large he is?

How about now compared to my knees and Big D's knees. Keep in mind that we call him Big D for a reason. He is over 6 feet tall.

Is this better? The guys in front of us left so we each hooked our legs over the back of the seats.

I'm telling ya'll, he was massive. And he had no idea I was taking pictures of us together.

Bear-isms

It's been awhile since I've shared some of the joy that is Bear. Get ready for a heapin' dose of him!

As I was walking to my bathroom, I passed Bear on my bed playing a video game. "They didn't name him Johnny Cash for nothing!" Um, no, Bear, they sure didn't.

Watching So You Think You Can Dance, "Mama, Twitch & I are just alike. Except he's a bigger version of me....and a different color." Uh huh, those are the only differences, Bear.

Making Kool-Aid, "Hey, Mama, if the baseball or sport broadcasting careers don't work out, I can be a bartender! Look at me flip the bottle!" You sure can because all there is to tending bar is flipping the drinks, Bear!Walking past him in the hallway & noticing his shirt was off, "Mama, I got hot! It's the hair, I know it is!" As Lamb says, it's like Pedro from Napoleon Dynamite. Um, I think I should hide the shaver...

Because his hair is getting "long" and because he's desperate to get it cut, he's taken to making "porkchop" sideburns (the mirror image is the best for viewing) in the hope that I get really aggravated & take him to the barber. I tell him he's annoying the wrong parent. He knows his papa is the one to take care of that business. To aggravate him, tell him he looks like an elf when he does that. ;)
Bonus:

The One Where She Runs Off to Join the Circus

I am going to confess something right here, right now. The kids & I really enjoy this show called Celebrity Circus. It's some kind of cheesy fun! They do Flying Silk, trapeze, high wire, Spanish Web, & the Wheel of Death, just to name a few. While watching, Lamb is constantly saying, "Oh, that looks FUN!" She says joining the circus is better than joining the carnival. OOOO!

We also watch another show with Big D called She's Got the Look. During one episode, the contestants had a challenge at a trapeze school in NYC. Lamb again said, "Oh, that looks like FUN!"

Because she expressed an interest, Big D checked out the trapeze school. It's affordable and they have an opening while we are there. On July 8th, for 2 hours, Lamb will be flying through the air with the greatest of ease!

Bear is less than happy about it.

Camera Critters #12

It's not the best picture, but this is a lion cub at MGM casino in Las Vegas. Big D & I actually got to pet one & have our picture made with it. They were so cute & fun to watch playing.

Friday's Feast

Appetizer

What is the weather like today where you live?

Stormy... oh wait, today as in Friday, huh? I'm not sure yet. I bet it's going to be hot. And it wouldn't surprise me at all if we had a shower or two.

Soup

On a scale of 1-10 with 10 being highest, how career-minded are you?

That's a tough one. I don't think I am very career-minded even tho I do try to do my very best at work. It is more than a job to me. People have aspirations for me to become a teacher. I don't have enough faith in myself so I'm content with what I am doing. All of that to say I'm probably a 5, right there stuck on the fence.

Salad

What type of window coverings do you have in your home? Blinds, curtains, shutters, etc.?

Nothing but blinds, but one day...

Main Course

Name something that instantly cheers you up.

The corny-ness that comes out of my family's mouths

Dessert

How many times do you hit the snooze button on a typical morning?

Embarrassingly enough, 2-3 times right now; Altho, with Big D sound asleep beside me, I hate to do that. So, during the school year, I usually turn off the alarm once the kids are up & at them and stay in bed for, um, a tad bit longer. So not a morning person.

The Road to New York

This time next week, I will be rushing to make sure I haven't forgotten anything. I will have payed the bills for the following week & pray they don't hit the bank before the paycheck. ;) I will not have packed yet. That will wait until late Thursday night. Friday morning, we will get up at the crack at dawn and head to NYC for a 5 day get-away. The path getting there hasn't been easy.

Big D & I tend to do things backwards without a lot of thought. For instance, we knew we had free airfare & hotel so we put those on the backburner. We knew we wanted to go to a Yankees game. Bought the tickets to a Yankees/Red Sox game, no less. Woot for us! We knew we wanted to see a show. That Saturday, we will see Grease with the two actors we voted to win. EEEE! Lamb & I would really like to wear Pink Ladies jackets, but I digress.

After ordering those tickets, we thought we might ought to book the flight & the hotel. Good thinking, huh? We get on the airlines site, order 3 of our tickets no problem. Then we get to Big D. He has a voucher he was given when he graciously changed a flight to make room for others. Only, he didn't read the fine print. He thought he had until the date shown to BOOK his flight. Negative. He had until that date to actually fly somewhere. Oops. We have to go because we bought event tickets AND three flights. Sadly, we had to dip into our spending money. Bleh. We also didn't take into consideration Big D's hours. We have to leave for the airport around the time Big D usually goes to bed. Oops.

Then we move on to the hotel. Oops again. They have availability for all nights, except the 1st. That night they only have a king-sized smoking room. None of us smoke. None of us can stand the smell of smoke. Both kids have extremely sensitive noses & it really plays with their sinuses. We go ahead & book it just because we don't want to sleep on a park bench in Central Park on the evening of the 4th of July. I have a feeling it would not be a good time.

Yep, we do things backwards. Except for shelling out souvenir money, it all worked out. Big D kept checking the hotel and a non-smoking, 2 queen beds did open up. We are cool now.

Up until now, I haven't been all that excited. It just didn't seem real. But now that we have started to map out our days (One day, we are meeting up with my friend, Bear's 4th grade teacher. How cool is that?), I can not wait for this time next week!

15 years

15 is my very favorite number so when I saw this on Bubba's Sis' blog, I knew I had to participate.

Think back on the last 15 years of your life. What would you tell someone that you hadn't seen or talked to for 15 years? How would you sum up your life? You get 10 bullet points. A list of 10 things to summarize you.

• Fifteen years ago, I was in nursing school, but I never finished due to a little thing called giving birth.
• I gave birth to Lamb who is now 14 and entering the world of high school.
• I then quit my job at a home health & hospice agency and also quit nursing school. Big D & I sacrificed a lot so I could stay home with her. Those sacrifices were well worth it.
• I gave birth to Bear who is now 10 and entering his last year of elementary school. And his last year of being in the same school with me. I have a feeling it will be harder for me than for him. It will be strange being at school & not having a child there.
  
• I lost a baby.
• I went to school to become a travel agent. I then quit that too. Good reasons though! We found out it was an expensive scam school.
  
• We moved from Memphis to Houston leaving a lot of family & friends behind.
• We bought our first house (after 12 yrs of marriage & apartment living) and our first brand new car.
• When Bear was in 1st grade, I entered the work force full time again at their school. When I was pregnant with him, I did work part-time but then Big D's hours changed & I had to quit. Now, with both kids in school, it was easier. Plus, we finally had 2 cars!
• We are a family who LOVES to travel. These past 15 yrs, we have traveled to: Disney World (3X), Universal Studios (2x), Busch Gardens, Chicago (3x), New York (fixing to be 2x), Las Vegas (just Big D & me), Florida's Emerald Coast (umpteen times), Montana (before Bear), and a Rambling Road Trip all across the midsouth/west. Bear has been to Detroit with his daddy and Lamb has been to Washington, D.C. with her grandmother & 5th grade class. Some of them were quick, short trips. Others were good, long vacations. We are building memories for the kids. And also showing them that there is so much more out there than our little corner of the world.

And that about sums up my life in a nutshell. Feel free to play along!