Peacockery

The newest addition to my peacock bathroom:


I've had the peacock up for a while but I just added the gems yesterday. They are real gems because I am really rich.



Yup, you are looking at diamonds, sapphires, rubies, and what not.


Ok, I got them in a couple of assortment bags at the Hobby Lobby for $3.49 per bag.
No matter...I love them.

Sock Animals

I made my first stuffed sock animal.

It was not very easy but it was very satisfying.


My good buddy Tirzah has made a handful of these little creatures. She is quite skilled. She let me borrow the instructional booklet- Sock and Glove: Creating Charming Softy Friends from Cast-off Socks and Gloves by Miyako Kanamori



I really want to make a few sock Dachshunds. Those words sound good together ...."Sock Dachshunds." That could be the name of your band.

You can make pig, rabbits, elephants, birds, cats, and monkeys (just to name a few). I am going to practice with the dogs for a while. It's all about the technique.

I even went out and bought a little sewing box to store all of my supplies.

I love new hobbies.


In other news:
I went to buy hula hoop making materials the other day. When I asked the gentleman at Lowe's where I could find the irrigation tubing, he tried to tell me I needed something else. It went like this:
me- "Hi, can you tell me where I can find irrigation tubing?"
Man- "Um.....for your yard?"
Me- "Well....sure. I think they use it for sprinkler systems, gardens, and small farms"
Man-"I think you are talking about a soaker hose."
Me-"Uh, no.....not a soaker hose. Tubing."
Man- "Ok, the soaker hoses are on Isle 7."

Me- (trying to not sound as frustrated as I was) "I need 3/4" 160psi poly tubing. It does not have holes for soaking anything. It us used for irrigation as a water source, header line and submain lines but I use it to make hula hoops." (I did my homework before buying the tubing because I knew I might run into a situation like this.)

Man- "HULA HOOPS?"

The Tubing (pic from last summer)

At this point, another employee intervened and showed me where the tubing was.
After I had two big rolls in the basket, I was tooling around Lowe's looking for some tape. This customer approached me and said, "Hey, it looks like you got yourself a big project going on!"

He was covered in paint and plaster and seemed friendly enough so I decided to tell him the truth about the hoops. He was also surprised about my project and wanted to know how I made the hoops. I told him all about it. I ended with "Yeah, I know I look all important and handy with this tubing but it's really just for making hula hoops."

He said, "Well, that is really interesting. Now, here is your compliment for the day...You sure are pretty."

I replied with, "uuhhh, thanks. That was really nice of you." I am not sure what to do in that situation other than just saying "thank you" and then getting out of there. Stupid me....I thought he was really interested in how to make a hula hoop. Sheesh.

A True American

Rachel and Larry threw an old fashioned 4th of July party. Larry even made sure the beer fit the theme as he stocked his cooler with Pearl, Schlitz, and Coors Original (yellow bellies).

I'm not sure if it was the old school beers or the patriotism that brought out the beast in Larry but something is to blame for what happened early on in the party.

Larry lives on a golf course. His neighbor, a retired Colonel, lives next door during the cooler months in Austin. During the summer, the Colonel (I don't know his real name as this is the only thing I have ever heard Larry call him) and his wife travel to a cooler climate. Larry and Rachel keep an eye on the house for them when they are away.

Anyway, right around the start of the party we see a golf cart pull up to the Colonel's back yard. Golfers are constantly hitting their balls into the back yards of the those that reside along the course. This dude climbs out of his cart and approaches the fence as Larry watches him. He uses his putter to reach over the fence and knock his ball to where he can reach it. That's fine. No big deal. Then, he messed up.


The golfer sees a few other balls in the Colonel's yard and decides to walk through the gate and help himself to the little treasures. Larry mutters "what does he think this is, an easter egg hunt?" and then yells "HEY! GET OUT OF HIS YARD!"

Before you can say "bad ass", Larry approaches the man with a walk that could rival that of John Wayne's.

I hear him giving the guy a lecture about not going into peoples yards. The lady in the cart was so nervous that she just kept a permanent smile plastered on her face.

I wonder if the man began to reconsider agreeing to the matching outfits? I mean, it's gotta sting a little extra to take a tongue lashing while dressed up exactly like your wife.

The got in their cart and drove off in quite a hurry. Larry gave them the stink eye until they were out of sight.


And then he went on to cook us the best hamburgers and hotdogs I have ever had.


That's our Larry....A True American Bad Ass.

Are You Kidding Me?

My dogs are sweet. They get along really well. Look at them gettin' all cozy.

They do almost everything together. They eat together, nap together, and play together.

Nap:


They have turned my couch into a bunk bed.

Play:


They even share the sticks they find.

From time to time, they also enjoy working together to tear my house up.

It was raining the other day and I had errands to run. When Cooper was solo (before the days of Charlie) I would put a pee pad down if I had to leave and it was raining. Dachshunds HATE going outside to do their business in the rain or after a rain. They are so low to the ground and I don't think they enjoy getting their bellies wet.

Any-hoo, the pee pad thing worked for cooper. Pee pads are primarily sold for puppy potty training purposes. You can find them at your local pet store. I will no longer by them.
Why?
This is what I came home to:

When I first saw the destruction, I did not know what this mess was made of. I thought they somehow got a hold of a roll of paper towels or toilet paper. And then, I figured it out.



Charlie is a little instigator. Listen, I love that pooch but he is a tad ghetto.

He still has a little pee pad around the eye area.

That stuff took forever to clean up.

In other news:
#1 I am tired of reading books with sad endings. Rachel, Tirzah, and Reyna have all recently lent me some books to read. I won't tell you what they are because you may want to read them and I don't want to ruin it for you. The bottom line is that in each of these books, a main character dies a crappy death at the end. Ugh. I can't take it anymore. I guess thats why I go for Stephen King. People die in his books but the story is so unreal that you are ok with it. Not unreal in a bad way...unreal in an escaping the day-to-day life type of way.
I don't like it when books make me cry. It messes with my street cred.

#2 I will admit, I watched John and Kate Plus 8. I usually would catch the re-runs. I enjoyed that show. Sure, Kate was a bitch and John was a door mat but it made for some good TV. Ok, it was sometimes uncomfortable when Kate would scream at John from across the grocery store. And, yes....I do agree that those kids were somewhat exploited. Dang it, I still liked that show. Now that they are divorced it has lost it's sizzle for me. I hope they go ahead and pull the plug on that sucker. You know....for the kids.

I gotta clean the oven now. Stupid cherry pie done went and sprang a leak.

This Smells Beautiful!

Friday I woke up at Clint and Anne's house to find that my lower back had gone out. It was pretty painful and quite upsetting. Hula-hooping had kept my lower back in good shape for over a year. I had put the hoops down for a few weeks (at least) and my back simply reverted back to it's old ways. I am still recuperating from the ordeal.
Any-hoo, I managed to make my appointment with the trigger point specialist. Basically, it’s a form of massage that focuses on the trigger points (injury sights) in your muscles. The lady was very knowledgeable and I would like to see her again. The good thing about her is that she focuses on teaching self-treatment. This is stuff I can do at home.

After the therapy, our little family went to see my little sister and her family. We sat out on her back porch and watched the kids play as we talked. I was sad because I could not play with them like I usually do. I was just in too much pain. Dale played catch with the girls and we took turns taking pictures.
Here they are playing catch:






I could only take pictures from my position on the couch. Lily came over for her close up.


She has a little burrito on the corner of her mouth. She calls it “bito.” Mmm….Taco Villa.

This is Zoe:

I wonder where she got her curly hair?

An ant (not aunt) bit Lily and she came over to her mother and I with tears in her eyes. Her momma kissed it and I told Lily that I had some ant bite medicine in my purse that would make the sting go away. Ok, so it was scented hand sanitizer from bath and body works. She did not need to know that. I gave her some and her tears dried up. Zoe wanted some so I put a drop of it in her hand. She rubbed it in, smelled her hand, and declared “this smells beautiful!”

I am so going to use that phrase.

Sisters




I already miss them.

Brown Sky

On Thursday, Clint and Anne invited us over for some yummy food, good conversation, and a dip in the pool. They served up gravlocks (a delicious salmon appetizer served with onion, capers,(sour cream?) and horseradish on a crostini), Caprese salad, and something else.....I forgot. Dale contributed 2 Calzones from One Guy's (the best calzones I have ever had are from One Guy From Italy in Lubbock) that we cut into fourths. Later, Clint busted out the weisswurst and asparagus . Weisswurst is Bavarian sausage made from very finely minced veal and fresh pork bacon. They can't get it in Lubbock so they have a friend bring it in from Dallas whenever it is convenient. I had never had weisswurst before and let me tell you, that stuff was gooooooood!
This is what it looks like:

I know it does not look very yummy but It sooooo is.

As the day was ending, a storm was brewing. Anyone who has spent time in Lubbock during storm season knows about the brown sky storms. They usually precede a thunderstorm. All of Lubbock does not get hit by the thunderstorm but most of Lubbock will get the preceding dust storm. We were all enjoying the weather,as the temperature had dropped about ten degrees, and then the winds started to change. It felt like they changed direction completely. Somehow, it felt like the wind was blowing upwards instead of sideways. There was electricity in the air and you could smell the earth. Mmmmmmmm......soil smell. Then, the sky started to change color from blue to brown.

See:
Clint brings the storm in-

This was at the beginning of the storm.


This was taken a few minutes later:


A little later:



We went inside after that last one was taken.
Though I don't miss the dusty sky and the inevitable layer of dirt that covers you from head to toe (including your teeth even though you keep your mouth shut), it was cool to see it again.

Hub City

This past Wednesday, our little family made it's way to Lubbock. This was the first time we have taken the dogs on a road trip. They were perfect!!!! You could not ask for better traveling companions.

They liked to spend most of their time in the front, with us, but would take turns chillin' in the back seat.

Charlie cracks me up.

They did not get car sick, did not fight, and always used the bathrooms when we made pit stops.


Cooper enjoyed taking in the West Texas scenery.



We arrived at the La Quinta some time that afternoon. We made a few phone calls, had a few beers, said bye to the pups, and made our way to Crickets to see Plain Brown Wrapper. Dale did not get to stay to see the band as the hotel called us and told us that our dogs were going crazy without us. BARK BARK BARK BARK! Dale is super sweet and told me to stay at the bar with our good buddy Danny. He knew that I really wanted to see PBW. What a guy.

We really enjoyed seeing these guys back when we lived in Lubbock. They are great musicians and they always had a Led Zeppelin song on their playlist.


They are still great musicians, but we did not hear a single Zeppelin tune. No sir. These guys play cover songs, as most bands in Lubbock are known to do, and they were catering to the crowd of young 20-somethings that had ventured out to see them. Therefore, they played some songs that I did not know but the crowd did. They also played Seal. SEAL!!!! Ugh. I think they also played Drops of Jupiter by Train. Don't get me wrong....I don't think anything is wrong with Seal or Train. It's just that back in the day, these fellas stuck to the blues, blues infused rock, and rock with balls. I guess I expected them to stay the exact same while everything else changed. I don't blame them for changing......they have to pay their rent and all.

The crowd was really annoying. Bunch of frat guys and sorority gals. I ended up elbowing a chick in her rib cage when she tried to cut me off on my way to my table. The bar area was really congested and I was making my way through all of the Hoits and Muffys. This little bitch tried to push me aside so that she could get to wherever she was going a little quicker. No ma'am. WHAM-O! Elbow to the rib cage. She stared at me after I delivered the blow and I stared back. I was already in a bad mood and she elevated it to Kill status. She recognized the crazy in my eyes and made the smart decision to back away without saying a word.
I was surprised I did that. I mean, I am 32 years old. I don't need to be hitting strangers in bars. It was like I lost control. It was like a reflexive action or something...something I would have done in my early 20s. I guess Lubbock brought the fever out of hibernation. I realize this is part of the reason why I left that place around 9 years ago.

More on the Lubbock Trip soon. Come on back.