A different kind of Dallas trip and "goat getting"

A trip to Dallas was made by people a couple of weekends ago to help with a doctor's appointment, to do a small amount of shopping and look for lots of tulips. My sister Carrie has had terrible back pain for over a year now, and after we arrived it took 3 seconds to see, "Yep she still has it." So, because the doctor appointment was the next morning and because La Madeline was just around the corner, we slowly and deliberately packed Carrie up with us and headed out. So, for the first time ever on a Dallas trip, a participant drove around in her jammies (that would be Carrie). The other shocking first was that Lydia went along with us, and she managed quite well even though she's an early bird riser and not so much the stayer up later. And even though she actually stayed up til after midnight, the world kept turning.

To say the car was jam packed with peeps is an understatement as we meandered through the streets avoiding all bumps as best Melanie could in search of every La Madeline in the metroplex area. We did an excellent job at that and we now know just about every single good and bad La Madeline in Dallas. (Just a head's up, the one in Highland Park SUCKS). Most of the time was spent at Becky and Keith's for relaxation, observing that Carrie was shaped like the letter S (she could have been on Sesame Street!), watching basketball and a short visit with Tori the vet. (That would be Doc not former military person.)

On Friday, Melanie took Carrie to the doc and guess what? He confirmed what we already knew....Carrie was in excruciating pain. It was determined the cause was a bulging disc. After 45 MRI's and numerous trips to different docs, you can't hide anything from those geniuses. No indeed. SO, what does a doc do when he sees you're in excruciating pain? He sends you home with instructions to go see another doc in a week to 10 days. Ahhhhhh....the brilliance of medicine. So my summation is....docs or people guessing at stuff are one in the same. Also, I have no pictures of Carrie in pain. BUT, since March Madness coincided with Carrie's back pain, it was a win win for us! We watched some bball, sat and sat. It was enjoyable in spite of the circumstances.

The biggest event of the weekend was Melanie taking ownership of a chair she'd ordered from a furniture store in town. Once Lydia and I saw the size of the chair and the size of the car and the amount of luggage we knew we had, we became quite concerned with visions of the two of us strapped to the roof of the car with the wind whipping through all of our hair. But, just to prove to us that her chair would fit with us in the car, she and Becky managed to saw a couple of chair appendages off and after that she fit in just perf. OK, that part's not really true, but I'm happy to report all furniture and people fit inside the vehicle at all times.

Saturday Afternoon we rode around and at some point, because I can't remember when and because it doesn't matter, we found a house so huge we deemed it to be "the castle." I am NOT exaggerating when I say they had burning cauldrons in the front yard. It's impressive and massive and if you're in the Dallas area, look for it. It's on a street somewhere. During our riding around we found many beautiful houses, many beautiful flowers and once again, I took some pictures. But, I only took one picture of one house because I got nervous thinking that if the rich people looked out their rich windows at just the right moment, they would see a hillbilly taking a picture of their rich house and call their rich police. So after I took a picture of this "shack", I put the camera down.


But I did sneak some pictures of lovely tulips that rich people love to plant....or should I say, have planted.



















Lord knows I love a tulip.

And a redbud.




I love to ride around and look at lovely flowers so for me, it was delightful.

And then we went home to watch more basketball AND watch Keith watch basketball, which means yell at the TV. And now for a sidebar on basketball brackets.....Emma G filled out multi ESPN brackets and until the end of the elite eight round, she was 99.3% correct on one of hers! And she doesn't even really watch the bball! Cracked me up and made her week. Kudos to the Em.

And with that final thought, this now brings me to our last day and the story of Keith at the door. See, what had happened was, I was standing in the kitchen, bent over a counter, looking at my phone that was plugged into the wall when I heard a knocking. I heard the knocking and knocking and knocking....but I thought it was Becky knocking and waving at Keith who was outside "doing yard work." (They are mushy and do stuff like that ALL the time). So yes in my real world I did hear the knocking....BUT....if need be, go back and reread what I just said in my defense.

Anyway, in another few minutes here came Keith through the carport entrance to the house asking me quite huffily, "Are you deaf? Did you hear me knocking to get in?" Well, when I realized what had happened I was unable to reply due to my convulsing laughter. I thought the whole incident HILARIOUS because as everyone knows I LOVE to "get Keith's goat" at just about anything....and....I'm EXCELLENT at my craft....SO, when I discovered that his goat had been gotten accidentally, it pretty much made my trip. The ENTIRE incident left me asking myself, would I have driven the whole way to Dallas just to achieve a gotten goat? Ummm yes I think I would have. And as I wrote this gotten goat scenario out, I did laugh all over again. Indeed I did.

And with this episode of Keith and the gotten goat, it reminds me of the last Dallas trip we made back in the fall when once again Keith was outside doing more yard work. That time he was using an electric leaf blower that just so happened to be plugged in to an outlet I was standing near. Well, just as Keith would get the leaf blower up to speed, I'd unplug the thing and watch as he checked the cord and checked the button and just about the time he was getting REALLY frustrated, I'd plug it back in. After this scenario was repeated MULTI times, Becky ratted me out and so ended another episode of Keith and the gotten goat.

I'm well aware that I amuse myself MUCH MORE than I amuse others.

And so the unusual girls' trip to Dallas was still a success even though it was very different from any we'd ever had before and now, since it's been a week to 10 days, Carrie's seen the other doc and gotten major relief from her back pain. Great news.

And so with that, I'll close realizing that a precedent has now been set for future girls' trips and "getting Keith" so I'll need to immediately begin a brain storming session on future goat getting.

There's much planning to do before next fall!

Peace out homies!