timeless, elegant, sublime

The Cartier Pasha C.

The Grace Kelley of watches.

We got a new roof today. Our entire neighborhood has been a roofer's wet dream since the big storm. The pounding was almost unbearable inside the house, so the kids and I spent the afternoon at Mindy's house. Grace insisted we bring Chloe, "Mommy, all that banging will make Chloe a nervous wreck!" So, we brought the cat on yet another road trip. Chloe, as usual, was a little champ in the car. Honestly, I've never seen anything like it.
There were pieces of the old roof and sandy shingle grit all over the driveway. While we were walking to the car, barefoot Carter said, "Mommy, the roof crumbs are sticking to my feet."

Grace's "glasses" don't have any lenses in them. She's been wearing them all day today. I have no idea why.

chloe's big adventure(s)

Sunday morning, we're getting ready for our much anticipated trip to Shipley's for donuts and kolaches. Ellie and Logan spent Saturday night with us, so I have two extra kiddos. Ray is sleeping in. I decide to run out and give the pumpkins a quick check before we head out, of course the kids follow. And, Chloe comes outside, too.

Chloe comes outside with us a lot. She generally runs around in the bushes and plays in the grass. Today, she bolted for a tree and ran straight up it. Ray is always worried that she is going to get stuck in a tree. I've been raising cats all my life and have never had one get stuck in a tree. So, I wasn't worried about Chloe, in the least. I even took her picture.

The next thing we know, Chloe is stuck in the tree. She's very high and is meowing in her distressed voice. The kids and I watched, and helplessly tried to coax her back down the tree with cat food and toys. Chloe wasn't having any of it.
We had to wake Ray up from his one morning of getting to sleep in. He was not amused. Chloe, though, still thought she was playing a fantastic game.

Grace was elated when the rescue was complete.

We locked Chloe in the house, but when the girls opened the door to go in, Chloe raced out at the speed of light and climbed another tree. Ray was not a happy camper.

This time, I had to climb on top of the kids' playhouse and rescue Chloe. I handed Ray my camera as I climbed on the roof and asked him to take a picture. Ray looked at me like I was from Mars. I assured him that when this was all said and done, and Chloe was safely rescued, it would make excellent material for my blog. Ray, who was completely nonplussed by the entire situation took one picture at an extremely unattractive angle, then locked Chloe in the closet and got back in bed.

Chloe is safe and sound, but will never be allowed outside again.

happy birthday, mindy

a great way to spend five minutes on a friday

Dave emailed me this video yesterday, and I saw it again this morning on Sammy's blog.

It it amazing. Watch it, it will make you happy.

surfing in the gulf

I've lived in Texas all of my life. And, I've been vacationing at the Gulf pretty much my entire life. I've always considered the Texas Gulf my ocean, but I've spent my life merely splashing around in ankle-deep water. I never actually get in the water.

My aversion to the Texas Gulf is two fold. First, the water is the color and consistency of Chocolate milk. Chocolate milk with extra chocolate. When I'm splashing around ankle deep, I can't see anything below my ankles. Not being able to see beneath the surface of the water does not combine well with the fact that I was born in 1974, and raised in the Jaws era. Fear of being eaten by a Great White shark is my second reason for avoiding the water all these years.

See what I mean about the chocolate milk?

This year I decided to throw caution to the wind and waded into the murky Gulf. Mindy and her kids brought their boogie boards (Mindy has never been afraid of the water), so I decided to give it a try, too. Mindy gave me a quick coaching session and I was hooked. I absolutely loved the feeling of flying across the top of the water when you catch a wave just right. Loved it. Mindy, Logan, Ellie, Grace and I all "surfed" to our heart's content. Carter is a little young for the waiting (waiting for a good wave is key and critical to successful surfing) and jumping on the wave at just the right time (also vital in achieving that flying feeling), but I'm sure next year he'll be ready to go. And so will I!!! I'm already planning our next trip to the beach and wondering how old the kids will have to be before a trip to Hawaii is feasible. Seriously, I loved being in the water and didn't even mind being stung by a jellyfish. Mindy and I both got stung by the little boogers, but we didn't let that keep us out of the water. We figured the salt water is the cure for whatever ails you.

On our last day of surfing, Mindy and I noticed the huge swells about fifty feet from us that eventually turned into our wonderful waves were completely full of fish. Sometimes we felt the fish bumping into our legs. We decided it might be a blessing that we couldn't see what was in the water : )


Logan and me, waiting for the perfect wave.

Grace was a patient little surfer. She understood the importance of wave selection.

Grace has true surfer girl potential. Next year, we're getting her a bigger board.

we've got crabs

Grace was the queen of the crabs. She found tiny crabs everywhere. On the road, at the beach, inside shells. And of course, she and Ellie gathered buckets and buckets of hermit crabs.
She would play with the crabs for a while, then we'd make sure she let them all go. Well, almost all of them....

There were a few we kept.

Our "fearless" crab chef:

vacation, so far...

vacation starts today

We're leaving for Galveston this afternoon. We have two beach houses waiting for us. One for our family, one for Mindy's family. The houses are right across the street from each other, and the girls have already decided that they will be sleeping with each other every night of vacation. We're looking forward to lots of giggles.

While we're away, my dad is going to take care of Chole, and Mindy's dog, Frank. But dad's most important job will be making sure my young pumpkin plants don't fry in the sun. Sounds strange, I know, but the pumpkins are at a critical point in their lives. If I were to leave them completely alone for the six days we're going to be gone, they would surely die.

Yesterday, what was left of my big, storm battered vine finally kicked the bucket. It seemed to be doing pretty well for a while there, but I don't think it could battle the heat without all of it's leaves intact. I'm sad, but moving on.

I have three young plants in the ground. They are a couple of months old, and doing quite well despite the ridiculous heat and dry conditions. These are the plants that need the most attention during the afternoon. I actually build a little tent over them from noon until five. My dad will be very good at this kind of thing. Knowing him, he'll probably find a better way to build the tent and have the plants looking even better than they do now.

My seedlings are ready for the ground, but will have to wait until vacation is over to be planted. They live in the comfortable shade of the front porch, and shouldn't be too much trouble for Dad. I have an elaborate system worked out in my head for afternoon cover once I get them in the ground.

I know, I'm a freak. Last night, after I packed up my beach reads, I was tooling around at the store, buying a few last minute vacation necessities. I was searching for bug spray when I happened upon these:

I actually felt a small surge of joy at the sight of the garden tools. I think it must be my destiny to be a farmer.

But, for the next six days, I'm going to be a beach mom. I have no idea if our beach houses have Internet access, but I'm bringing my laptop. I'm prepared to drive around in the golf cart with my computer, hoping to pick up someones wireless access if our house isn't equipped. If that doesn't work, there's always Starbucks. Hopefully, I'll find somewhere to log in and post a few pics.

90 days....

I waited until 9:15 to leave for my run tonight. I like to wait for the temperature to drop below 90 before I hit the road. When I left the house, it was still 92 degrees and not a lick of wind.

Still, I do my best thinking and decompressing alone, beneath the night sky, and tonight, I needed to feel my feet pounding the pavement. While I was running, I decided to begin training for my second half marathon.

The race is on October 11th, which is ninety days away. That means I only have thirteen weeks to finish my twelve week training program. I'm pretty sure last time it took me seventeen weeks to finish the twelve week program. That, in a nutshell, pretty much sums up my prowess as a runner. I'm slow as shit.

But, I like the training part. Having a schedule to follow, pushing myself every time I run. Running further and faster than I did the week before. I need a goal. Without one I find myself dawdling and taking lots of water breaks.

I've also found that putting things on my blog keeps me from just thinking about them, then looking back and saying, "I should have done that. Why didn't I?"

I'm excited about training for and running another half marathon. And the best part, the weather. I found this on the Run Austin Run website: Start time temperature has averaged 62°. Finish time temperature has averaged 72°. That temperature range sounds like heaven. I might even need a jacket : )

friday night looks better in black and white

Three moms in a mini van. You can never go wrong with a vodka martini.
Tequila, I think.

Bottle Rocket. The world's greatest 80's band.

Doesn't Lisa look a little wicked here?

We asked for red velvet panties. We got the pink panty pull down.

comfort in a pee-soaked world

Urine is sterile, urine is sterile....

It's my potty training mantra. I find myself chanting it throughout my days. I have been dealing with pee and poop issues for the past five years. And, although there is light at the end of my potty training tunnel, I still find myself wanting to vomit and run away screaming from time to time.

Yesterday was one of those days. I found all of Carter's brand new (we gave him a view master for his birthday) view master reels in the pee filled potty. Yes, he stacked six reels in the potty and then proceeded to pee on them. Twice. Of course, he closed the lid and didn't mention it. So, when I found them they were completely submerged and marinating in pee that was beginning to smell.

Urine is sterile, urine is sterile, I began to chant as I walked the pee bowl over to the sink. Urine is sterile, urine is sterile, I put on my plastic gloves, just in case, and fished out the view master reels. Carter absolutely loves the view master, why he decided to pee on the reels I will never know.

As I'm rinsing off the reels and chanting my mantra, I'm conjuring up lovely images of Bear Grylls. I often think of Bear, my favorite hottie adventurer, when I'm faced with disgusting tasks. The disturbing things I've seen him do on tv make my life seem like a walk in the park. I once saw him pee right into his own canteen, then gulp it down. If Bear can drink pee, I can wash off Carter's view master reels, I tell myself and continue to chant. Later we were driving home from my mom's house and Grace announced, with great pleasure, "I really have to pee. In fact two drops of pee just leaked into my panties!"

We were almost home, and the outside temp reading on my car's thermometer read 104. I did not want to stop somewhere and do the pee thing.

"Here come two more drops, mom. I'm not sure how long I can hold this."

Ugh! So I pull into an empty church parking lot, dump out my diet coke, hand Grace the cup and tell her to make it quick. Gleefully, she fills the cup up with pee and hands it back to me. "Oh mommy, the cup feels warm, doesn't it?"

Urine is sterile, urine is sterile.....

we have lift off...

Uncle Dave's rocket rocks. We launched it ten times in the one hundred degree front yard this evening. Our next door neighbors even joined in on the fun.

The rocket really is seven feet tall. A few people drove by very slowly, checking us out. I guess it does kind of look like a missle. If FBI agents show up at our house tonight, we'll know why.

The launch.

carter's birthday - the best for last

Carter's third birthday ended exactly how his first and second birthday's ended; at Hut's Hamburgers. It's our birthday tradition to take each of the kids to their own birthday restaurant. (Grace's restaurant is next door at Frank and Angie's). Our friend, Dave (aka Uncle Dave), always comes with us, it's part of the tradition.

After our hamburger dinner, Dave gave Carter his gift. A seven foot water powered rocket. Carter had been asking for one for months, but I hadn't been able to find one, and even had my family searching for one, too.

Uncle Dave to the rescue. You can tell by the (sorry one of them is blurry) photos that Carter was very excited about his enormous rocket. We haven't launched it yet, but I'll be sure to take pictures when we do. In the mean time, I'm perfecting my introduction, "Hi, it's nice to meet you, I live a few blocks over and our seven foot water powered rocket just landed on top of your house...."

Then we came home and Carter's new Lightening McQueen bike was waiting for him in the living room.

When I put Carter to bed last night, I told him that I thought he had a good birthday. He agreed, with sleepy eyes and a huge smile.