Friday Night Fun

Vegas Winstar, Baby!

B and the WinStar sign
(a little blurry--the camera was no cooperating)

Sorry, couldn't resist that one. If we can't go to Vegas, much to B's dismay, we can at least hit up the WinStar World Casino in Oklahoma every now and then, which is what we did Friday night.

We bought tickets a month or so ago to see Rodney Carrington's comedy show. If you haven't seen or heard Rodney, you should. He's hilarious. A little on the dirty side, a little on the country humor side, but hilarious. I think he'd fit in nicely with the Blue Collar Comedy guys.

Let's see. Quick rundown of the trip: I'm B's bitch, great show, successful poker playing, and arriving back home nearly 24 hours after we got up the previous morning.

How am I B's bitch, you wonder? Well, to know for sure, you'd have to ask idiot road rage guy who was ticked that B honked at him after IRRG sped up so that we wouldn't get in front of him when we tried to change lanes. We honked, so he thought he should then flip us off, point to the side of the road (presumably so we would pull over so he could beat up B or something--ha!), and make a gun gesture with his hand--that got his license plate written down. Then, when we ended up next to him in the stop and go traffic, he threw a rock at the Jeep--and didn't miss--and proceeded to say he'd shove B's badge up his a** and then yelled "F*#@ you and your Bitch!" Before he sped off, B hollared after him (in his best "Church Lady") "Hmm . . . Satan!" While a little scary, still pretty funny in the end. We're still walking around with B saying "you're my bitch, baby!"

The rest of the jaunt up 35 was less uneventful, thankfully. We made it there in plenty of time to walk around a bit while waiting for our friend Kelly and Scotty P., who were going with us to the show, to get there. Now, for my one complaint about the place. Do people smoke in public places that allow it just because they can? I'll admit, it wasn't as smokey this time as last time we went up there, but geez! Or is like drinking? You have to smoke while you gamble? I just don't get it. And since the casino is basically, one big tent, the ventilation isn't great, so the smoke just sort of sits there.

Me, Scotty P., and Kelly waiting for the show to start.

Bad attempt at getting a self portrait before the show started.

Someone sitting near us took pity and got a shot for us.

These were all taken with B's phone because no camera's were allowed. People were even gettting reprimanded for having having out the camera phones.

Anyway, we had lots of fun at the show. The opening act (don't remember his name AT ALL) was pretty funny in the end, but hit a few duds. Someone should have told him that at least half his audience was probably from Texas so he could have cut out or changed his Oklahoma jokes. We Texans just weren't amused.

Rodney was great. I've only heard bits and pieces from his CDs that B owns. His schtick is mostly country/hick family/couple fun. A lot of his stuff about couples you have to laugh at because it so dead on. He also has a whole segment of singing. He's got a really good voice, so you focus on that at the beginning of the song and then he pops out some outrageous lyrics. He's probably best known for his songs "Titties and Beer" and "A Dozen Roses" (which sounds innocent enough, but is NOT!). Honestly, my face hurt by the end from laughing so hard.

Oh, and thanks, Kelly, for getting such awesome seats!!

B and I waiting for the bus take us back to the poker room.

Kelly and Bernie goofing around while we wating for the bus.

There's no getting a "real" picture of these too!

Yet another attempt at a self portrait.

Can you see B sort of peeking out in the back.

And what a lovely shot of my double chin.

And that's a whole lotta Bernie!

After the show we met up with Bernie, got some food at the restaurant next to the live music that was good but so loud we couldn't hear to talk, and then let B and Scotty P play some Hold 'Em. Now, we went all the way up there and lot of you probably know that I'm a Hold 'Em player too, so you may wonder why I didn't play. I dont' do cash games. Too much pressure and I'm not nearly an aggressive enough player to have much success. I had $100 to possible play slots, but I ended up just hanging out with Kelly while the guys played--well, while B and Scotty P. played and Bernie watched over them to give updates and make sure they didn't go broke!

They didn't go broke. B even came home over about $150, so all-in-all a successful trip.

And despite being crazy tired, we got home safely and the munchkins nicely let us sleep until nearly 10:00. Needless to say, we spent most of Saturday lounging on the couch. We are definitely too old for these late nights!

Taking it on Tuesday: The Great Landscaping Project of 2010

So, remember this little TioT from a couple of weeks ago?

Well, that "little" project took a turn for the big.

B had been throwing out the idea of a walkway in the front yard for the last year or so, but we've never had the resources or inclination to take the project on. But, this time when we went to look at flowers to plant in the pots, we decided it was just the right time to take it on.

First stop was Lowe's to take a look at what kind of stone or brick we wanted to use. We picked a sandy colored cobblestone that would look good with the brick for the house, but that we could also stain if we wanted. The next morning, before making any purchases, we did a rough design of what the pathway would look like with the water hose, then it was off to Lowe's to buy our supplies.

Here is the official before pic. I had already started to remove a couple of bricks from the original border.

The plan was to extend the plant bed out about a foot and half to add a few smaller plants/bushes in front of the existing shrubs then make a walkway/border from existing pathway around the side of the plant bed and stopping at the corner of the house. Eventually, we will probably extend the walkway all the way to the gate.

B spent most of that Sunday digging a trench with the edger (is that even a word?) and digging out the grass along our planned pathway. Do you see all that dirt and grass? It was crazy! Oh, and, no, we did not leave the grass and dirt in the City of Fort Worth trash bin. B just needed someplace to put it until I got home with lawn bags, which we initially forgot!

Next came pouring the sand, which really made it start to look like something.

Now, picture this scene. This was Sunday a little over a week ago. Game 3 of the Western Conference playoffs between our Dallas Mavericks and the hated San Antonio Spurs (that was just for my friend, Cris!). Game started a 6:00 and we still had a lot of work to do, so I opened the front windows and turned the TV up really loud. Let's just say that it is amazing that our neighbors did not call the cops on us--well, me--for all the yelling I was doing at the TV through screened windows. Yeah, next time we won't plan a big project during the NBA playoffs.

Finally, we start laying the pavers. B started on the ones up the side of the bed then I started laying some. We quickly realized that I seemed to have more of a knack for laying the pavers, so I spent Monday through Thursday evenings after work until dark laying out the pathway.

We hit a few snags.

Does something look a little different from the original plan above?

Yeah, we were unable to get the tool for cutting the pavers and they were a little too soft to chisel, so we decided to work around the issue and not have the walkway curve. I still think it turned out completely awesome.

Here we are late Thursday night (finishing up just in time to head in for Game 5 Mavs/Spurs) with the sand poured over the top and wet down to set.

Something we learned after this point. The guys at Lowe's do not always know best. B initially wanted to use paver sand, which is sand mixed with cement to set the stone. Guy at Lowe's said this was unnecessary and all we needed was the regular sand.

Wrong!

The pavers just weren't quite setting right, so when we went back to Lowe's Friday night to get planting soil, plants, mulch, and grass to fill in the bare spots we didn't hit due to the design change, we got the paver sand. We went ahead that night and did the first round of paver sand and by the next morning, the stone was setting in quite nicely.

Saturday morning, we finished up setting the stones and then I went to work on the planting. I didn't want to plant just flowers in the bed. Our original idea had been just more shrubs/bushes, but maybe some yellow or red/purple ones. Unfortunately, all the ones we found at Lowe's were going to grow bigger than the space we alotted for. So, Plan B was to find some perennials that would grow kind of big and give just a little color to the space.

They are a little hard to see because they are still small, but the two on the outside are Marmalade Rudbeckia, which will yield some pretty yellow flowers, and the two on the inside are Passionate Blush Gaura, which should show pretty pink flowers as well as reddish leaves.

We used a black mulch to really contrast the the lightness of the pavers and also to coordinate with the black shutters around the windows.

And here we are, almost all finished. B has put one coat of stain on the pavers, but needs to add another.

View from the sidewalk. I've still got my pots our ready to get some flowers in there to complete the landscaping look.

I'll post more pictures when B finishes staining. We're really pretty proud of this project and really excited with the way it turned out.

Happy Tuesday!!

A

All in a Week's Time

It's funny how life works sometimes.

It's funny how the highs and lows of life hit.

In the span of one week, I've seen and felt (felt as an observer) the highest of highs and lowest of lows in life.

Last Tuesday, one of my very best friends, Julie, gave birth to her first child.

Julie and I work together and have been friends for nearly 9 years. Since we are both friends and co-workers and talk on a daily basis, I had a firsthand account of her entire pregnancy, talking with her as she planned and prepared for her sweet son, all the things that come with impending motherhood.

Another good friend and I waited (impatiently) all day for her husband to update us on Facebook of the new baby's arrival. At work all day, people anxiously asked for updates. We could hardly stand the wait. And then he was here.

I most definitely teared up seeing the first picture posted of that sweet baby boy and later pictures showing him with his two proud big brothers, his daddy, and his mommy.

It was such an exciting, happy day to watch, even from afar.

It was a major high.

On Sunday morning, our very dear friends, the Perry's, lost their beloved husband, father, and grandfather.

I've mentioned Scotty P. before. He's Bill's best friend and has been for over 15 years. Bill considers Scott's family his family, and as an extention of Bill, I do too. The Perry's are a wonderful family who love each other so much and love to laugh together. Jerry was such a big part of that, maybe the biggest part.

B and I spend all Saturday night, into the early morning Sunday, sitting with Scott and his family at the hospital as Jerry's situation steadily became worse. It was one of the most awful things to witness as these wonderful people tried to wade through their emotions and grief. But, I was glad that we could be there to support them and hope that in some way, we were able to give them some amount of comfort.

On Sunday, I took a step back and realized what had just happened in a week's time. I've never experienced anything like that before. It seemed so surreal to have these two major life events happen in such a short time. I know it happens every day, every hour really. There is life and new death every day. But, to see these things happen to people I am so close to really hit home to me.

Life is strange like that.
It is beautiful and precious.
It is made up of highs and lows that we sometimes don't even see.
But it is all life nonetheless.

Welcome to the world sweet baby boy (who I hope to meet, live and in person, really soon!).
And, goodbye, Jerry, a man I am so happy to have known.

A

Weekend Fun: Phive-K Run for ALS

I took a quick little trip to Baylor last Saturday.

Why?

To participate in the Phi Delta Theta (Baylor Chapter) Phive-K (get it?) Run for ALS. Why would I do that?

Because my baby brother, Kyle--a freshman at Baylor, asked me to.
Here is Kyle trying to look like the cool frat boy he thinks he is--ha!







Well, really, my mom asked me to because Brad, my stepdad, was supposed to be in Russia (that's just a whole other story) and she didn't want to walk alone, but then his flight was cancelled due to the volcanic ash from the volcano in Iceland (no news link--watch the news, people). But, since I'd already said I'd go and I had been wanting to get down to Baylor, I went.

The only shot of me (a "lovely" self-portrait B said I should put on here) from the day.

Speaking of B. He had to stay home. Poor guy just still isn't quite up to even walking a 5K after the blood clot in the lung. His lung capacity is slightly diminished right now, but hopefully that'll get better soon!

So, Mom, Brad, Alex (really baby brother), Alex's friend Gabe, and I took off Saturday morning in the very gloomy, rainy weather to go walk a 5K.

Mom and Kyle. Mom needed to take a picture in her UNT Health Science Center T-shirt for work. I guess they do that when they go places.

Kyle and his girlfriend, Kirstin, before we got started. Hmm . . . does this boy ever smile?

Oh, hey, there's the smile. Dad got it out of him!

Alex and Gabe, high school seniors, walking around like they are right at home the college campus.

Sorry, but isn't Alex just the cutest?

After a few words from the organizer, Anthony, we were off.

Now, Kyle and most of his fraternity brothers took off on in a mad dash, leaving the rest of us--mostly family and a few friends of the brothers--to make our way along the course.

The course followed Bear Trail, the walking/running trail around the Baylor campus. The trail appeared to be 2 miles. We followed it around once, went another quarter mile or so around the trail, then cut across campus back to the start to complete the 5K.

Because I have not quite been keeping up with my workouts, I was not prepared to run this 5K, so I walked it. Now, I'm a powerwalker. A seriously, freakishly fast walker at times. And I figured if I was going to go all that way and walk 3+ miles, I was going to make it worth my while. Unfortunately, the rest of my group did not feel the same.

Look at those stragglers!

These two strapping young boys were not much better, goofing around on the trail.

So, I led the group even though I had no idea where the heck I was going. See, the trail is only marked at the start, the 1 1/4 mile , 1 3/4 mile, and the 1/4 mile (I think). And we did not start at the start. And since the guys putting this thing on took off in a run, most of us walkers had no clue where we were going, so we just kept walking.

Well, Alex did run for a minute. Yeah, cause that looks real!

See those lovely ladies up ahead of me on the trail? They were the only two anywhere near us the entire walk. Every time they got to a possible cutoff on the trail they looked back at me to see if we were going the right way. None of us had a clue.

Funny story about these women. Toward the end, we had no clue where we were going, so we called Kyle (who had finished) to ask where we needed to cut across. Once we found out, I ran ahead to tell these two so they stayed on the right path. Once I caught up with them and relayed the message, the one on the left introduced herself to me and the mom of one of Kyle's fraternity brothers.

And asked if my son was in the fraternity.

I so could have been offended here, but she quickly said I didn't look old enough. Couldn't really blame here. I am 13 years older than Kyle and I clearly didn't look young enough to actually be a student, so if I looked a couple of years older than my age then I could have been a young mom to a college freshman.

But still.

Anyway, really good time. The weather cooperated, thankfully. We had been having quite a rainy day up here if Fort Worth and even down in Waco, but the storms stopped just in time and we had lovely walking weather.

Can't wait to go back and visit Kyle again and see more of the campus!

Happy Tuesday!

Shopping Alone

What do you do when you are shopping alone and can't decide which size of something looks better on you? Step out and look at the three-way mirror? Nah. Ask another woman in the dressing room who is sure to understand your problem? Of course not. Whip out the cell phone and take pictures of yourself in the mirror to compare the two? Hey, that's a great idea!

Yep, that's how big of a dork I am.

I went to Target after work today to find some pants to wear tomorrow. My little brother's fraternity (at Baylor) is sponsoring a 5K walk/run and I'm going with my mom and stepdad to walk it. I do work out, but have slacked a little in that area of late and put on a bit of weight (can't believe I just admitted that, but it's not like you can't tell by looking at me), so some of my nicer workout attire is a bit on the snug side. Also, I work out at home, so my workout clothes don't exactly need to be presentable since only B and the pups see me in them.

So, I needed some presentable pants (read: pants without holes in them) to wear to this event. Target is a pretty great place to find affordable, but GOOD, workout clothes. So, off to Target I went. Love me some Target. Probably a good thing we don't live across the street from it any more!

Anyway, pants. Found some pants that said they were looser fitting, picked them up in two sizes--no, I will not be saying WHICH two sizes--to try. Then I noticed some capris that looked really cute, comfy, and exactly what I was looking for. Problem: they were tagged as fitted. I'm, shall we, um, say on the curvy side? Okay, I have a big butt (there is a reason "Baby Got Back" is B's ringtone for me) and larger hips and thighs. All of this basically means that fitted does not really work well for my body type. I have accepted this, but there capris were really what I was looking for. So, I went ahead and grabbed two sizes of those too and off to the fitting room I went.

Decided to try the capris on first, in the smaller size. To my surprise, the fit rather nicely. I'm not going to say I looked great or thin or anything, but I didn't think I looked like a big, fat cow either. I thought I'd go ahead and try on the larger side just to make sure those didn't look a little better. Well, they actually made me look bigger because they were a bit baggy--until I turned around to look at my rear. Whoops, knew I forgot something. Cardinal rule of trying on clothes:  look at yourself from all angles. I hadn't looked at my butt in the smaller pair. So, I quickly switched pants again and thought my butt looked too big in the smaller ones. Went back to the big ones. Couldn't tell if I could see a difference, but I didn't like how the bigger ones looked everywhere else. I told myself to remember what I looked like in those and then tried the smaller ones back on. Couldn't remember. Great. I just knew I was going to be there for 30 more minutes and still end up with the wrong ones. This is why I need a shopping partner. Then, it hit me. Camera phone!

I whipped that bad boy out and took picture from the side and back (that was fun, I'll tell you) in both pants and took a look. Decision made. Smaller pair it was! Butt may look a little bigger, but overall, I looked better in the smaller ones.

Now I never need a shopping partner again. B will be so happy!

Happy Friday!
A

Taking It on Tuesday: Gardening

This was not what I was planning on taking on this week. And, really, I probably get to any actual gardening and planting this week, but I'm going to start the planning process.

I have not had the best luck the gardening department. The lovely summer-in-Texas heat usually bites me in the butt.

We've been in our house for four years now. The first year, I got super ambitious and we bought all kinds of flowers to plant in our the bed under the front windows, which only held the itty-bitty, newly planted standard new house shrubs. I thought I'd just plant some flowers around them and also around our lone little Charlie Brown tree in the front yard. I encountered a few problems. First, I did not pay attention to the sunlight our yard gets. The tree gets quite a bit, so the beautiful begonias dried out and died. The bed, however, gets very little sun at all, which was not conducive to wide variety of flowers I planted there. Not to mention the fact that those lovely shrubs grew. I did fair a little better with the flowers planted in a few pots around the walkway, but eventually the heat got to them too. So, overall, big fat fail.

The second year, my grandfather, who has one of the best yards ever, asked about my attempts at gardening. He suggested I try only planting in pots and perhaps buying hanging plants and transplanting them. Sounded like a good idea and I certainly couldn't argue with his success, so that I did. I had a really pretty landscape:

Pretty, huh? And look at that lawn! I take no credit for that. The lawn is all B's baby.

So, that's how the front of the house looked for, oh, a month. Then the heat hit again and my beautiful flowers started to wither away, no matter how much (or little, as the case may be) I watered. The next year, much of the same.

Last year, I just never got around to it. I had a lot going on and I just couldn't bear the thought of spending money on flowers only to have them die away again. Actually, I did plan on planting. I even bought some books about Texas flowers and planting and such. But, life got in the way of on my planning and we went flowerless.

So, my plan right now is to plan and get to planting. My goal for this week is to study my yard. I'm still going to stick with pot planting. I'm cracking myself up right now because it sounds like I'm going to plant weed. Hehehehehe. No, no weed for me. How the heck would you say that? Anyway, I'm only going to plant in my pretty pots. Seriously, I love my pots. Got them at Garden Ridge. They are all a heavy plastic, but look like ceramic. Anyway, I'm going to place the pots where I want them and then spend a day studying the shade and sun patterns.

I already know the front of the house, especially right next to the house where the pots will go, does not get a whole lot of sunlight. But, I want to know for sure what gets sun when so I can plan my plants accordingly. Since I work from home on most Thursdays and plan to this week, that's the perfect day. I'm going to draw a diagram of the house (please stop laughing at the thought of me drawing a diagram; it's not that funny) and then write up a timeline. I'll go check every hour, I think and note where the sun hits or doesn't hit.

Now, all of this planning will not solve the lovely problem of the "awesome" Texas heat. But, the only thing I can do there is really know my flowers. Know how much water they are supposed to get and try to keep up with it. And also, know which of them are meant to last through summer and not just spring.

I know I do not have a green thumb, but damnit, surely I can keep a few flowers alive through summer. I hope so anyway.

Happy Tuesday!

A

A Week (and more) in Review

I've been a bad blogger. Just lots going on and then I hurt my back and sitting in a chair (or even upright in bed) to use the computer was just not happeing for me. But, lots of stuff did happen (not exciting to most, I'm sure; but exciting in my little world), so I wanted to share in pictures and, hopefully, few words.

On April 1st, we had a new back door (frame and all) and a storm door installed. Can I just tell you how much I LOVE my storm door. It has a window that can be pulled down to have it open with a screen, which is awesome for getting some air in the house.

My little sunbaby, Dash, loves the new door too:

Let's see, last Sunday--Easter Sunday--was Brad's birthday.

Oops, I don't think I was supposed to take a picture with his glasses on--hehe! This was actually him telling me not to take a picture with his glasses.

We had his birthday dinner with family the night before at my Uncle Jimmy's house.

Yummy spaghetti with ribs (my favorite--I should make and blog that one these days) and I made Brad's favorite cake--Boston Cream Pie, which also happens to be my favorite dessert.

Let's see, no pictures or much else from Sunday.

Monday, April 5 was Opening Day at the Ballpark. My company/department has been going to Opening Day to see the Rangers since long before I ever started. Two years ago, the Rangers asked if we would like to be a part of the Opening Day ceremonies by helping unfurl the giant American flag on the field during the National Anthem. We, of course, jumped at the chance and while it was a bit hot and humid and a lot of fast, hard work followed by a lot of standing around, it was a LOT of fun. We got to see a bunch of old players while we waited in the tunnel to go on the field. We stood on the field for the entire ceremony, so we got to see the opening lineup up close and personal, got to see pitching legend Nolan Ryan throw out the opening pitch. It was just an awesome time. We were asked again this year and had a much less awesome time.

This happened to the flag (which is made of a parachute-type material) during rehearsal, which led to us unfurling an 11-striped American flag on the field:

Yep, that would be a very large rip.

Along with some smaller rips.

We attributed this to some not so good direction this time around in the whole flag unfurling thing. The people running it did not seem to be as good as last time, so we were really unprepared when we got to the field.

But, it all turned out okay (except for the two missing stripes) and we did have time for pictures on the field since we smartly decided to be on the end and, therefore, did not have to stand there holding the flag before it got unfurled:

I think this on the left was supposed to be an attempt at a picture of Rusty Greer. He's a coach now, but back when he played, he was by brother Kyle's favorite player, so I had get a picture.

However, the un-fun continued when we got to our seats. We first went to the pro shop so B could look around. By the time we got to our seats, others had occupied them (too long of a story for here), so we found other seats.

Here was our view:

Outfield: 

Home Plate:

TV in case we couldn't see all of the field:

We left early. Went to visit Scotty P's dad in the hospital. Lots of thoughts and prayers for him right now.

When we got home, I thought I would continue my sewing endeavor by finishing up mending some of B's pants. Um, that didn't go as planned as the brand new sewing machine decided it didn't want to work anymore. Pretty sure this one had been opened and returned to the store. So, I did that as well.

New sewing machine:

A "few" more bucks, but lots more bells and whistles and I think it will last better in the long run.






Tuesday morning while brushing my teeth before my shower, my back went out. This is not something new to me. It happens every few years. That laid me up for the day and I was still in lots of pain for the next few days. But, we learned that B follow directions very well as he cooked me dinner Tuesday night from a recipe that he had never seen before. I was very proud! (And the recipe will be blogged later!)

Thursday, we had the carpets professionally cleaned. We bought our own machine a couple of years ago, but our carpet, 4-years-old like the house, was looking pretty bad what with having the two little munchkins and all. Dalworth came out and did a fantabulous job, so we think we'll get some more years out of this carpet.

Yesterday, we trekked out to Kelly & Bernie's house in Frisco for a surprise party for our friend Jerry. The party will get it's own post since I took lots of pics of the evening.

So, that's where I've been for a week. I'll be better at blogging this week--I hope!!

Happy Sunday!

A