Projects

Our house, as I'm sure most houses are, is in a constant state of projects and renovations.  We've done quite a few projects in this house and still have more to do.  We are in the process of adding a direct vent gas fireplace to the master bedroom.  But, that's way above my skill level and not something I can work on while the LOML is off working in Orlando.

So, during these extended trips I usually let my mind wander and decide on a project I can do or get started on.  This is usually much to the LOML's frustration and often amusement.  See prior post about trim in the bathroom...  This time I took on something I KNEW I could get accomplished.  Our house was built in approximately 1994 and, at the time, the popular decorating style for hardware was bright brass.  Of course bright brass has fallen out of style and, in my opinion, is just plain ugly.  I worked on the downstairs bath and replaced the knobs and towel holders there a couple of years ago.  A few months ago I started on the family room by repainting.  I know, I know, get to the point.... well this weekend I replaced all of the door hardware in the family room and kitchen.  I think it looks 20x better!  Here is a before and after pic.

Baseball, Begins, for REAL!

Well, we finally had our first tournament / games of the season

A round robin deal over in Corinth...

Game 1, M pitched

He pitched the whole game
   43 total pitches
   38  Strikes    (5 balls)
   18 batters faced

Tigers won that game 26-5

Second game they won 8-4

Third game they won 16-6

Fourth game they won 6-3

M pitched (obviously) caught, 1st, 3rd, right field

Team looked good and we are very happy to be PLAYING BASEBALL!!!!

The Daily, Weekly Chronicle

An update on where we are and what is going on right now.

E is in orlando working the NBA All Star Game.  I know, it sounds exciting right?  dont be jealous, its not.  They are working long hours out there,  I spoke to him Sunday, then we didnt speak for four days, our only communication was text, e-mail, and pictures.  Here are a few excerpts


He sent me this picture, I have no idea what it is..

He also sent me this picture, I dont know what it is either

I sent him this picture,  D misses him

And this picture, My child is truly a nut over NERF guns..

And this picture,  yes that is the dog again, we were taking him for a walk

And this picture, a Hi to E from G

Smellovision

If only you had smellovision on your computer...

in our effort to continue to experiment with our new grill, we smoked some ribs...

little rub, little bbq sauce, little beer,  wrapped up in tin foil,  smoked for a few hours, then in the oven for a few hours.

OMG it was awesome.  Meat just fell off the bone and was yummy delicious...

Z Man's room

as I have mentioned,  JP moved into a new house end of last year, and she has projects on her list and are going to get them done!

She took Z's room first.  Pulled the carpet up, the trim off, pulled the doors off some built in cabinets, removed the rod and shelf from the closet.  Painted the walls, ceiling, cabinets.  Installed new flooring, closet organizer, etc.

We saw the finished project over the weekend, and it looks GREAT!  It was a lot of work too.

JP - you should be proud of the finished product.  I know Z loves it

A Night out

With our family schedule, we dont have a lot of just E and I time, but every now and then, all the stars align.

Last Saturday, for our Valentines celebration we went out.  M spent the night with JP.  We went to a movie  , the Grey, it wasnt bad, but it wasnt as good as we expected it to be.  There were definitely a couple of moments in the show that everyone there jumped.

Afterwards we went to IHOP for dinner,  yep, thats the life of a old married couple.  When going to IHOP at 10pm on a saturday night is a good time...

Of course, seeing the people at a IHOP at 10pm on a saturday night is half the fun.

Anyway, we had a good time and thats what counts.

Love you baby!

Men are from Mars and Women are from THIS PLANET!

So we continued to do our winter yard cleanup, getting leaves picked up, trimming back dead plants, etc.

The one thing we had to finish was the front flower bed.

that is an "after" picture, no there is not a "before" picture because I suck at doing this...

E and M and I worked hard at cutting the lantana back, removing weeds, leaves, and etc, and it looks pretty good.

Also worked on the rose bushes and that flower bed over by the truck

Domino even helped by standing guard by the gate in case we happened to open it and he could go run around in the neighborhood un chained...

We even rescued a snake...

now I know, you are going, ok, thats nice, but what does that have to do with the price of tea in china!

well, this picture...

I see, a cleaned up flower bed, that we worked hard on...

My Husband, the LOML, my reason for being, see this

The "other" blog

his tools, thats what he sees here...

not all the work that was done, but what tool did the work...

I really truly love him with all my heart and soul, but I just dont understand him

My Sister

so I have 2 sisters by blood and a 3rd sister by real estate.  In other words, she and I grew up in the same neighborhood.  She probably spent more time at my house as a kid than she spent at her own.

Well anyway, M  (no not our M, first, this is a girl, and you should have known that because I said she was a sister) was in town with her children over the weekend (she lives much farther south than us, where things are always hot and sweaty and muggy...) so she and the boys came by.  Her boys, J and A and our M immediately started up a NERF war that ended up leaving the house covered in NERF bullets.  Here is a picture of them running around...





yes, it is kind of dark, but if you squint, you can see them.

after that we sent the boys outside which they started a game of kickball in the cul-de-sac which of course other neighborhood kids joined in on. Here is a pic of the game in progress




Yes, its kind of dark also.

M (her, not him) and I ended up sitting in the front yard with D on a leash while E played Zebra for the game.  Here you can see us relaxing in the front yard





gosh your right, that picture is dark also.  Dont know what was wrong with the camera that day


In the end they had to leave to get on the road to head home, and we had practice to go to, so we didnt get to spend very much time together, but the time we had was good.




(next time I will get my camera out so I can actually take pictures of these things as opposed to pretending there are pictures there when there are not)

Super Bowl Sunday

for that most famous Sunday of the year, we decided to invite a few people over and watch the commercials...

I mean game...


We smoked some wings in our new Grill

yes, they were good...

T&T brought some ribs they smoked...

K&C brought dip

JP brought all the good for you stuff, veggies and fruit and such...

We also had all kinds of chips and dips

and boiled shrimp

and chocolate cake

and banana pudding


no one should have gone hungry, and if they did it was their own fault!!!


We had a good time watching the commercials, I mean game..

The children, including some of the big ones had a good time shooting people with nerf guns..

Gabby probably got shot more than anyone else,  its really tough to be a teenage girl...

Little G had a great time,  she didnt want to sit and watch, she wanted to play with the boys

and the flashlights

and the guns

and the flashlights...

did I mention she likes flashlights?


anyway, a good time was had by all, and we are glad for the people that came over.  We hope everyone had a good a time as we had, and hopefully we can do it again next year

BASEBALL!

in case we havent mentioned this before, we are a baseball family..

My child, lives, sleeps and breathes baseball.

The team has been practicing a lot lately and they look real good...

the facilities are awesome and we have great seats to view the action of the practice...

yes, thats right, from my truck.

It's cold and windy out there,  I cant just sit out there in the cold and wind

I cant...

really...

Here is ONE of the new uniforms..

we also have shirts in Red, Green, Blue, Orange, Black, Brown, Taupe, Fuchsia, Hot Pink, and Lavender.

OK, maybe not all of those colors,  but we have a lot of shirts...

First games are coming up and we are all excited to see it come together on the field

already starting

as I have mentioned 10000000 times before, our family is all about baseball...

Well M had the first scrimmage the other night...

It was cold, and I mean cold, and the wind was blowing so hard buildings were falling down.

ok, maybe that is a bit of a exaggeration, but suffice it to say, the wind was blowing hard, and it was cold.

yes, it was under the lights, at the Tigers facility

We were good parents, waited in the car while the team got warmed up , once the game got started, we got our chairs out and went and sat by the fence, ready to cheer our child on!

we were back in the car by the second inning.  If it helps, we could easily see the game from the car.

When M caught in the 3rd we had gotten out and went over to watch him, and then went back in the car when the inning was over  (thats M in the second picture)


anyway, glad Baseball is started up and in full swing.  M is very excited.  Apparently broccoli makes you play baseball better.... more on that story later..

The amazing Kreskin

I have to share this story....


A few weeks ago, night before the rodeo, we had a family dinner at a Chinese buffet place.  We were all sitting there chowing down, and this conversation went down.

Uncle M - Well M who do you think is going to win the super bowl?
M - (without hesitation, looks up from eating)  The Giants..  (went back to eating)

 - pregnant pause-

Uncle M - well I guess I need to go change my bet then huh!
M - (again, without hesitation)  yep


Looks like they should have listened to him..

This aint my first Rodeo

As a family tradition, my dad gets tickets to the FWSSR and we go each year

(thats the Fort Worth Stock Show and Rodeo for ya'll non rednecks out there)

My aunt and uncle come in from the farm and go, our family goes, my sister's family goes, my dad goes, everybody goes...  and a good time is had by all.

We end up going over in the morning so we can wander through and look at cool things for sale, and cows, and horses, and sheep, and goats, and chickens, and bunnies, and....  (my uncle even bought a couple of bulls while he was there)

Here's some of our family watching G riding a pony

whats hard to believe, is the one on the left is my 10 year old child!

Here's G riding the pony

ok, now look at this picture...

see the ponies Butt in the left hand side of the picture?  someone colored a white pony PINK!!

that is so many kinds of wrong....  anyway

our view of the Rodeo.

The opening ceremony

It was a good rodeo,  only cowboys who did well were the Team Ropers, everyone else, the animal won, Bull riders were 9-2  (bulls winning)  A good show none the less!

If I can get on a soap box for a minute...  It is nice going to a event where people putting on the event and the people attending the event are proud of America.  This is someplace where when the American flag went by you, people stood and removed their hats.  When the riders went by the American flag, they removed their hats.  Its a show of respect that just isnt around anymore, and I enjoyed it.  Sang the national anthem and said a prayer too...  Hmm, why is that so refreshing?

ok, getting down off the soap box..

BTW, my husband said to me when we parked that there were more Chevy Tahoe's in the parking lot than any chevy dealership in Texas...

just a fun quote to share with people...

Sundays

Craig Morgan has this song called  "Thats what I love about Sunday"

the chorus goes something like..

Thats what I love about Sunday
Sing along as the choir sways
Every verse of amazin grace
an then we shake the preachers hand
go home into your blue jeans
have some BACON and some BACON
pick a backyard football team
not do much of anything
thats what I love about Sunday

ok, maybe I put the thing in there about Bacon...

but around our house, it cant be Sunday without Bacon

and I'm not talking about that fake, cook in the microwave Bacon

I'm talking about real Pig fat cooked in a pan kind of Bacon

Biscuits are always good too..

You know who loves Bacon the most?

yes, thats right.  D LOVES BACON!

He actually drools staring at the plate of bacon sometimes...

The good thing I will tell you, is that I am glad our dog does not play Baseball, because he had a trouble with the fly balls

He missed this one.

and this one

and this one...

Oh well...

if you happen to have extra bacon,  be sure and stop by and see D.  He will love you forever for it.

Of course he loves everyone no matter what, so honestly not much will change,

except he would probably drool on you if you brought him bacon, and dog drool is gross!

so maybe just leave it on the front porch or something...

Lights, Lights would be BAD here..

the title of this post could have been many things...

It could have been,  I love my truck, but
It could have been,  find out who your friends are
It could have been,  That took a lot longer than expected...
It could have been, batteries, batteries everywhere, and not a drop to drink

but anyway it ended up being a play on words for a movie quote I use all the time, "Lights, Lights would be good here"

remember?  Pretty Woman.

Julia Roberts plays a hooker and Richard Gere is a rich guy driving a Lotus sports car?  They go driving off and she says..

yes, thats right, she says, "Lights, Lights would be good here"

You know, why is it that her dress in the movie poster is pink, but in the movie is blue.  Did no one notice that?

so anyway, on to the story.

Its the weekend, on Saturday we we had practice, we added a child to our house for the evening, we stopped at Ace Hardware for my husband to get frustrated at the people there, we went to dinner at Pizza Inn, then went home.  E was driving...  Sunday morning we leave to go to practice and at the field, just stop and let M out.  We dont get out, we dont lock the car, etc.  (dont worry, this will become important in a minute)

as Spongebob says...  "2 hours later..."

the truck wont start, wont do anything.  We of course cant figure out how it could be dead, we were just sitting there.  Radio wasn't on,  doors weren't open, etc.

OH YEAH!  ITS THE DAMN LIGHTS!!!

even though this is a vehicle from 2008, even though its a hybrid, it doesnt have automatic lights.  Now, if you get out of the car and lock it, the lights will turn off.  But we didnt get out of the car, so they stayed on for 2 hours....

We called K&C, left a message,  called JP and asked her to come rescue us, while I was talking to JP, C called back, and he was closer so he came.  We tried jumping it off his car, with no luck, so he ran E back home to pick up the Tahoe.  E came back with tools and was able to finally get the Highlander to jumpstart  (its actually difficult to jump start a hybrid, with no key).  You dont know whether it is going to start or not, it finally tried it, and actually did.

I have to say, I am kind of confused in the good it does me to have all those batteries in that vehicle that will drive it down the road if the one crappy little battery in the front holds it all for ransom.

So after we got the toyota jumped, I took the boys in the tahoe to take R home and E went driving in the toyota to try and make sure it would get a charge back in the battery so it would start the next time.

UGGG,  Hopefully E will remember to turn the lights off from now on  (you know the thing doesnt even go bing at you, its SO STUPID!)