Under the Sea

These pictures, taken at The Aquarium of the Americas in New Orleans, make me want to sing songs from The Little Mermaid. Melanie saw Caitlin and Olivia standing together and took their picture. Then she decided to have Randy take some of the whole group of girls. There are some fish that apparenly wanted to be included and if you look closley, there's a fish that looks like he's posing just in front of Becky......what a big ham. And I love the way it looks like people are standing under water in their street clothes. What if we could do that? I think if we could, it just might be a version of heaven for Whitney.

This was the basketball trip to New Orleans. It was a success all around.

Birds

Birds are swooping in front of my car on a regular basis. It's a well known fact we're supposed to have a deal with the birds (as documented in Seineld). Well apparently the deal is off.....at least with me....because they're swooping and swooping and just today there were at least 3 or 4 swoopers. What did I do to the birds for them to call the deal off? I'm very concerned. Someone's gonna get hurt and as long as I'm driving and they're flying, I know who it's gonna be. Bring the deal back birds or it's just a matter of time.

Like mother like son...

I hope this gives everyone a laugh for the day instead of a little tear. I thought after the way the day started, it might be nice to infuse a little humor into it. These are Melanie's photos that she showed me yesterday. THEY CRACK ME UP! There's nothing like a beach nap to add to the loveliness of a vacation. And there's nothing like the deliciousness of pictures like these to remember the vaca nap! Of course don't get mesmerized by Gmaw and not notice Frank in the background. His close-up was very near happenin though.

Some more random thoughts

I love the picture of these eggs so much that it may remain for months. Or, I could just rotate them out over and over. It doesn't seem logical that I love the picture of just a few eggs but truly I do. They are just fabulousness in a small roundish oval.

We watched Glee tonight. I hope they don't screw up that show like they usually do. It cracks me up most of the time. We have a group watching at Melanie's each week so we can observe the crazy and funny together. So far, so fairly good. The jury is still out for the long term however. Hollywood generally tends to screw up a good thing. We shall see.

In other news, graduation is 2 weeks from tonight when Olivia busts out of her huge class of one and enjoys her final summer before college. My, my, my where does the time go? She will be 18 years old on May 8th. That's just too unbelievable. Her senior video is coming along quite wonderfully under the direction of Melanie....and Carrie you better be bringing a hanky or 5 cause you will be a blubbering mess. NO DOUBT. Pictures set to music just changes the whole mood of it all. It becomes something else. It becomes a treasure that evokes memories and nostalgia and a wistfulness that I cannot explain.....but surely it does. It's quite fantastic.

Owen is finishing up with his schoolwork this week and then we will have little or nothing to do. Yikes! I need to find a hobby that pays thousands of dollars a day. If anyone knows of any, gimme a shout out.

After it rained a couple of times in the last week, the green of the trees is just the most stunning color. There's nothing that can compare to it. Today the sun was shining through my crape myrtle leaves and it was so lovely. The green of spring is like no other. If you haven't ever noticed, take a look. It's worth it.

There were no extremely funny events that occurred in my life today. I'm not sure I laughed enough at all. I'll have to work on that tomorrow and see what I can make happen. I'll be like Maggie.....I make it happen. I'll explain that another day.

Also Owen just informed me he could hear John snoring through the wall. Oy vey. It may be a long night OR time to listen to music as I try to drift off and block out the jack hammer of the snore. sigh..............

Saturday was the most lovely day

After a full week of dire weather predictions, Saturday was the most lovely day; so Caitlin, Emma, and I drove Olivia out to the farm and as we were coming in, Maggie was riding in as well. Emma took these photos as we rode beside her. The pictures are stellar and as you can see the beautiful blue sky and green trees added to the lovely aspect of it all. As days and weather go, it was an award winner.....all in all well done God. I never forget these kinds of days. They are filed away in lovely memories to take out and enjoy all over again.....at any moment.

Random thoughts for the weekend

Well I started a post but then changed my mind. It's currently 2:06 a.m. Here are some random thoughts:
1.Emma tried to tap dance tonight......it was an utter failure.....wasn't even close.
2.When Caitlin left for work the other day, as she was walking out the door she said, "Stay fabulous."
3.If you haven't seen North and South you won't understand this but Mollie thinks she is weak like Thornton's sister Fannie and that if we were in wagons headed west back in the day and we needed to cut some "dead wood" it would be her. All in the room at the time agreed. Especially Carlie who said, "We would dump you off.......get rid of the weak ones!" It was harsh.
4.I had a lovely cool walk tonight under the almost full moon.
5.Addy is at present outside barking her ridiculous head off at 2:20 a.m.
6.Whitney went for a short spin with BJ, Melanie and I this evening, about 15 minutes, and she talked so fast I was exhausted. It was like Emma when she drinks coffee or when Whitney eats butter pecan syrup. She used up at least 4 days worth of words in the full 15 minutes.
7.I tried to make it to 10 but it just wasn't meant to be.

The bird is back

The bird is back.
I may need someone to manage my background.
I may not be mature enough to do it.
UGH!!

Rosie and the bad weather

This is what it looks like outside. If you can't tell, it's raining.


And this is what it looks like inside. Rosie will be plastered to my side until the rain leaves us. With the first small rumbling of thunder this morning, Rosie was scratching at the bedroom door looking for me. After I was found and as long as it's raining and rumbling, she will remain nearby until the storm passes and the sun makes its appearance. Because of the predicted forecast for today and tomorrow, it looks like Rosie and I will be spending lots of time together. At the moment she's content to just be laying close by. Most of the time there has to be contact between the two of us. It just started pouring down rain again and she is still calm and content. It's a day for staying inside. I'm glad I'm not a mailman.

Maisy's action shots

After we got home from Corsicana, I discovered that we had 3000 pictures of Maisy and not one of Rosie. Poor Rosie. Emma much prefers to take pictures of Maisy and so explains the 3000 photos. This is just a sampling of the pictures of her. If I posted them all, it would be forever til all were seen. I'm dividing them up into different categories. And so the first is action. There may even be action part 2, 3, 4, 5.......we'll see. I'm choosing not to commentate on each picture but pay attention to the ears, which won't be difficult to notice. And in the last photos, if you look closely, you can see the water trailing off of Maisy's tail. I love that.

This actually happened today.

Last night, I decided to rock my family's world by cooking red beans and rice today. I have before documented the tragedy that is this meal at my house, BUT, after 9 months of moratorium on it, it was time to put it back in the rotation. So, I hired a bodyguard and cooked the beans. Now to say the least it was a very lazy day here today. Olivia wrote vocabulary words.......or Olivia tried to make me think she wrote vocabulary words.....and Owen and I worked on his schoolwork. And as we did, I looked around the den and saw plenty of opportunities to clean something but I didn't think I was ready to do anything as rash as that. So, I didn't. There may have been and may still be some puffs of dog hair in a corner or two but I knew it wasn't going anywhere, and again, it seemed unnecessary to sweep just yet. And there may have been approximately 3 baskets of clothes in the den that might have needed folding, but again.....rash to fold? I think so. Everybody knows to yell for a towel. Nobody went unclothed today.

And since 4 of the 6 of us had to be different places tonight, after I successfully cooked the beans and rice, I decided at about 4:00 to eat my supper. Now picture this. Messy house.....and I'm being kind.....I've got my pj pants on, a gray tank top, and for some reason when I dried my hair last night I had a square thing going on just on the right side. I did in fact show Caitlin and Olivia this phenomenon this afternoon and both of them did confirm the square hair problem but what you gonna do? Go rewash my hair? Nah. Anyway, again, pj pants, tank top, square hair, sitting on the couch with my bowl of red beans and rice and I promise......God knows I'm telling the truth.....reading my Bible. With the very first bite, I dropped some on my shirt....so this whole scene had the look and feel of white trash for sure. Also, not a stitch of makeup. AT ALL. I LOOKED BAD.

Now Owen and I were the only ones home at the time and he was in the living room and about the time I had another big spoonful IN MY MOUTH, he comes out of the living room and says, "There's someone outside." My heart stopped for a second as he walked outside, but because the person was at the front door, it bought me a moment of time. He left the door open just enough for me to hear a woman speak to him and I knew INSTANTLY it was Bill's very gentile southern mother coming to bring Olivia a graduation present. I said something I shouldn't have.....with my Bible IN MY LAP and jumped off the couch racing to the kitchen with my bowl of beans and rice, then ran to my bedroom to do the quickest change in the history of awkward moments and peeked out the door of my bedroom to see if she had come in yet. As I was still putting on my clothes and trying to smuch my square hair, Owen walked in as I held my breath waiting for her to faint when she saw my messy house. He came in with the gift and no Carroll and I heaved the hugest sigh of relief. She didn't come in. She never even saw me. She didn't see the pj pants, the soiled tank top, the redneck with the square hair on the couch reading her Bible whilst eating a bowl of beans and rice. Yes, God had mercy on my today. It was one of the closest calls in my life. And after some time for reflection about cleaning.........I didn't. There are still small puppies in each of the corners in my den.

I learned nothing today.

BUT, I am however happy to report, after a shower, there is no more square hair. And if you didn't know, it's not easy taking your own picture in the bathroom mirror, which I did last night, because I felt it was extremely important to document the square hair, as seen below. It really is square. Also I was not trying to hide myself, I just couldn't figure out how to photograph my hair and my whole face at the same time. It took quite a bit of maneuvering to make this picture happen. I may not be able to walk and chew gum at the same time either.

And this is my new phone cover that Emma gave me for my birthday. I love it.

Addy's Corsicana

The shimmy


The shake

Addy coming in after barking and barking at the cows. Her ears are down cause she knows she's in trouble and she's trying to look cute. This works on Olivia. Addy knows it.

It appears Addy's treading water.

Cammie's tolerating her.

Dog pile or meeting....not sure which.
Either way, Maya's in charge.

I'm sure someone was calling Addy and she was trying to decide if she was going to cooperate or go her own way. I know how this ended.


After the previous picture, this is where she ended up.
On the lead in the yard.
We were in Corsicana 5 days.
She never learned.


On the very first day, Addy excitedly went and found cow poop and enthusiastically rolled and rolled in it.....multiple times; therefore leaving her with a greenish hue around her neck area. She stunk so bad it was UNBELIEVABLE. She did not care. She loves getting dirty. But, I wish we had a picture of her getting a bath. She gets soooo pist and stays in a bad mood until she forgets that she's clean. She always gets so fluffy and puffy when she gets a bath but she usually still stunk from the poo. But, it didn't take long the very next day for her to forget her bath experience because she got as dirty as she could as quickly as she could. And then of course she got another bath that night. It's a vicious cycle that will never end.

She is an odd bird but we love her a lot in spite of herself.

Continuing the series.....

We will be continuing our dog series this week. I have so many dog pictures.....and I'm not even kidding....and so I'll be using the week to display some of them. If I showed them all, we'd get finished somewhere around 2015, so I'll spare you the grander scheme and just show the highlights of what we have. There really are more dog photos than human photos....not sure what that says about us. But oh well.

Lauren's first trip to Corsicana

Well Lauren survived her first trip to Corsicana and in fact declared she had a great time. Even the bug landing on her in the shower didn't thwart her enthusiasm. She got a taste of all that is Corsicana for us with town rides and country rides and bon fires and the bluebonnets didn't disappoint as well. Here are just a few of the sights during her maiden voyage......well not voyage but it sounded better than trip.


Caitlin and Lauren were the winners of the first annual (or whenever Maggie and Olivia make one) Amazing Race in Corsicana. They were the recipients of this valuable top of an ex-basketball trophy that was taken apart in Monroe and brought to Corsicana to serve as a tacky prize for the winners. And they were EXTREMELY excited and happy to receive it!


Sunbathing in the front yard....it's country chic


Pasture golfing....another country pastime. That's if you can chase the dogs down that run for the golf balls after you hit them.


And then the best for last......lazy afternoons in the swing with the one you "kinda" like.

Corsicana doesn't disappoint.
All in all it was a good first effort.
Here's to many more in the future.