Part of the Journey

My brother rides a Harley. He and my sister-in-law both enjoy riding. They gear up in dew rags, leather chaps, gloves, vests, and helmets and ride as often as their schedule and the weather permits. They talk pipes and flames. They collect Harley pins and t-shirts and stories of the folks they meet on their rides. They have fun.
Glen has taken the last couple of weeks to ride around the western US, hitting 24 states and seeing the sites. He stopped by my house today. I've kept him up too late and he’s exhausted already. He’ll put up a post on his blog soon, so for now I’ll just say he got here and we both had steak for dinner and we had a nice visit. I got to see his pictures too. What an amazing trip. I was surprised to learn he took some from the motorcycle while moving. They are clear and good. They all tell a story and I’m so glad he’s been able to share his trip adventures through his blog.
I want him to be comfortable and that means the thermostat is on 68 degrees. Don’t worry about me – I’ve got on jeans, a sweatshirt, and two pairs of socks. His ceiling fan is on full blast as well. I guess he’s used to being on the motorcycle with the wind blowing back his hair – wait, that’s not right with his bald self – er, I mean, he’s used to the wind blowing into every orifice of his body keeping him chilly cold and frosty. I’ll just throw another blanket on the bed and think warm thoughts. It’s been a fun day and I’m glad he stopped by!

Consciousness - That Annoying Time Between Naps

Always up at 3 am for some strange reason. It’s been this way for weeks now. I’m tired and grumpy and want to sleep, but that doesn’t happen. So instead of fighting it I get up and do laundry or cook and freeze meals. Tonight I’m catching up on my DVR shows and blogging about nothing. Maybe Sue will let me come to her house and count her sheep. Problem with that is she’ll make me figure out which are goats, ewes, lambs, or rams first, and that just makes my head implode. So I’ll stay here and warm some milk. I’ll put chocolate in it and maybe find a cookie or two to go with it. Eventually I will sleep and anyone that disturbs my sleep will get hit with a stick. According to Glen, folks sleep while driving in Oregon – head back, mouth open, eyes half closed, driving 70mph. Perhaps I should fly to Oregon and rent a car to get some rest.

Lions, Tigers, and Shopping - OH MY!

Took advantage of the Mother’s Day sales weekend and went clothes shopping today. My wardrobe for the past few years has consisted of mostly jeans and t-shirts of the places I’ve traveled to, both long and short sleeves. I knew I’d have to protein load before I left for the mall, and I’m glad I did! I picked out two tops I thought were cute and found an associate to ask if she thought these tops would launder well (I don’t iron). She gave me “the look” (you know the one – she sizes you up and down with a snarl on her face) and she said, “well, this one is a pajama top, and the other is a sundress.” What?! Clearly I needed more help than just directions to the dressing rooms. I thanked her for her advice and slithered off, determined more than ever to find just one top to buy. I finally found one top I thought was age appropriate and would be fun to wear. I looked up and saw a poster on the wall of Brittany Spears straddling a chair wearing the exact top I picked out. I knew I was in trouble then. So I went to the jewelry counter and bought earrings. Sigh.

May the 4th Be With You

My friend Denise wrote that on her Facebook status today. I spewed my drink. Funny, funny! Happy Star Wars Day! I shall celebrate by making laser and light saber noises with my mouth, “Pew! Pew! Pew!”
May the 4th is one day before May the 5th, Cinco de Mayo. I’ve spent lots of time thinking about all the Mexican food I’ll be eating. Tacos and guacamole are my favorites and I’m pretty sure chips and queso will be involved as well.
Whichever holidays you choose to celebrate, do it with Force, Spicy Chilies, and Chocolate!

Blogiversary

My blog is officially one year old! Special thanks again to Sue and Cheryl for nudging me to start blogging. After a year of blogging I’ve learned that I still have nothing of note to say. But thanks for stopping by and reading anyway. Today’s blog entry will be a story I’ve told over and over but never blogged about. Now it will live in infamy:

Little brothers were born to be picked on by big sisters. I took my job as big sister seriously and was good at that aspect. Relentless and constant. Plus, my little brother had two big sisters to pick on him. Doubly blessed that one.
As adults we are supposed to be beyond all that. But somehow I could never think of him as a mature adult, making decisions in a responsible and reasonable manner. Until the day we walked into a t-shirt shop at South Padre Island…
Shortly after Cheryl had Tyler my brother brought Dillon, then two years old, to the beach when I was there. We walked into a t-shirt shop and immediately my giant brother got down on one knee, eye level to my nephew and said, “I need you to keep your hands to yourself while we’re in this shop. There are lots of little trinkets and shiny objects that I know little boys want to touch and play with; but I need you to put your hands in your pockets, don’t touch anything, and stay close to me while we are here.” My nephew put his hands in his pockets and skipped behind my brother shopping for t-shirts.
I almost cried right then and there. My little brother had grown up and was a great dad and didn’t need my teasing or pranks.
Nana nana boo boo.

Techno What?

worked in the yard 4 the 4th day in a row and got beds cleaned out and fresh mulch spred. rain on da way and rushed 2 finish. made it b4 1st drops hit ground. whoo hoo!
ll!!ymmjbetsmote. that don't mean nothing - i'm practicing my technospeak. did ya notice the non-capitalizations? trying to be grammatically and punctuationally incorrect on purpose. how will the next generation communicate with ours? maybe the library offers classes. otherwise i'm learning slowly. some of my fav's:
ilum - i love you man
ign - i got nothing
gwhtlc - glad we had this little chat (huh? were we chatting?)
but my all time favorite is sh^ - shut up (which i will do now)
ttfn (look it up)

Lucy and Ethel

Under the category of TMI, all my male relatives should move along now and not read this blog entry. You’ve been warned. Keep moving. Nothing to see here guys…

Jugs. Twins. Double Whoppers. Yep. Talking about the boobs. I’ve never had ‘em, but I do now! We’re quite a pair now because I’m a boob too. But geez. Neither Sue nor Cheryl warned me about the side effects of big boobs. I can never sleep on my stomach again. I get rashes under the girls when I sweat. While they make great jogging partners they sometimes pull ahead and I trip over myself trying to catch up with them. I can use them as a sweater stretcher, but never know if they’ll stretch to a larger cup size or a longer cup size. Wondering what else I don’t know about these new mysterious appendages. I’m thinking I should add them as additional residents to my census form (along with the voices in my head of course).

The Easter Bunny Found My House

I'm disappointed that I didn't jump up off the operating table from this surgery feeling grand. I'm right where I should be in my recovery, but still fighting pain, itching, and brain fog. I don't do a whole lot (which is exactly what I should be doing) and I've let things slide - like checking the mail weekly instead of daily.
Imagine my surprise and delight - truly the highlight of these past couple of weeks - when I checked my mail on Easter Sunday and found Glen and Cheryl’s family calendar! I was so touched and happy that I busted out crying. Yes, my hormones are out of sync, and yes, I cry at the Budweiser commercials too.
Anyway, every one of the pictures in the calendar is awesome. Dillon and Tyler are growing so fast. They probably hate that I say that. And they’d hate it more when I say how good-looking they are. And they’d cringe if I said how proud I am of them that they are growing up to be fine young citizens. So I’ll just take them over the edge and say how fun it is to be their aunt.
I shall go now and admire the pictures again and the memories associated with them while finishing off the other ear off of my chocolate bunny. Happy Easter!

Now This Is Madness

Awesome basketball last night. K-State and Xaviar were very well matched teams. We watched the leads go back and forth; we watched the fouls fly; we watched double overtimes; we watched two teams play well together. It was hard to cheer on KU's rival, but they earned the spot and deserve the kudos. However, their purple still clashes with all the crimson and blue in my closet. I shall give them a cheer now - Go Wildcats! - but as I've said all along, I think Kentucky is the team to beat. We'll see as March Madness continues.

First Day of Spring

Hoping the second day of spring brings sunshine and, well, springtime weather!
Here's the first day of spring...

Madness in the Game

March Madness brought March sadness for KU. End of the line for the top seed team in OKC. Looking ahead to next year.

Just Beachy

I went to relax on the coast. I ate lots of fresh seafood, shopped, and walked the beach. The winter visitors had just left and the spring breakers haven't arrived yet. Perfect weather, perfect vacation!

Big 12 Madness

Kudos to OSU for knocking KU out of the #1 spot this week.

Lost and Found

Sixteen months ago I lost my spare key ring in the washer. I figured it out the next time I went to check the mail and couldn't find the keys. I remembered putting them in the pocket of the jeans I had just washed, but couldn't find them in the washer or dryer. This was the key ring that I kept all my store key ring cards, an extra house key, and the extra mail box key. Today I did a load of laundry and when I opened the washer door to put the clothes in the dryer, my house key was right there. I shook my head at how this had to be the key lost almost a year and a half ago. I carefully pulled out all the clothes one at a time, shaking them out, hoping to find the others. Sure enough. The mailbox key was there, and three key ring cards came out. When it was empty I found the broken key ring. Amazing. I think I had five or six key ring cards on there, but I didn't find any others, and don't really care at this point. It's all rusted - like it's been through over a year's worth of laundry cycles. I should call for service and have the drum taken out. Perhaps then I might even find my missing socks without having to wait another year.

Building a Rep

The overnight delivery man will leave my package on the door mat, knock on the door, then drive away. I had just come out of the shower when I heard that familiar knock. I hadn’t ordered anything so I threw on some clothes to see what wonderful gift awaited. I threw open the front door, looked down, and saw the feet of my neighbor. He had come over to tell me he was back from vacation and to thank me for watching the house. I asked how his trip was and he nervously shifted his weight back and forth, stared blankly at the top of my porch avoiding eye contact, and mumbled quick replies. Obviously uncomfortable, he slithered down the walk to go back to his house.
I knew my wet, uncombed hair was a mess, but I was clean and smelled good, so I stepped outside to look up to see if there was a spider web or wasp nest in the corner of my porch. I didn’t see one so I couldn’t figure out what he had been staring at. As I looked around I saw a couple of other neighbors out shoveling snow. I waved and turned to go back inside. I got a glimpse of myself in the mirror by the front door. My pants hadn’t exactly made it all the way on. The pants I threw on had fallen down my hips, exposing all but my crotch of my purple and pink striped underwear.
I've already been to Kohl’s and bought snug pants that fit so that won't happen again. I wish my reputation of flashing the neighbors could be salvaged just as quickly and easily.

Screaming By Text Message

When my nose started running I called a friend and told her I’d be sick for two days with a cold, then back to normal. Here it is, two weeks later, and I’m still congested, my throat hurts, I’m coughing, what voice I have left is two octaves lower than normal, and I’m almost out of chicken soup. So, same room or not, all my cheers and jeers during the KU/UT game had to be texted instead of shouted. But there is good news: Puffs makes a box of tissues with Vick’s. Magical. As far as the game, it was fun to watch. Well, the free throw KU tossed after Aldrich fouled out with the technical was more pathetically humorous than fun, as was Taylor’s foul of Brown on the three pointer with a minute left in the game; but the Texas students and fans were fun to watch. The Big 12 is still up in the air as there are 7 games yet to be played. And these two teams will probably play each other again during March Madness on the road to the Final Four. In the meantime, out of UT, OSU, and KU, according to today’s polls, here’s what I’m wearing…

All in the Game

I hear there’s a little football game today. I’m all about the snacks, commercials, and half-time show. I may even watch a bit of the game.
The big game I’m interested in takes place tomorrow night. Kansas vs. Texas basketball. Texas’ weakness is making the free throw shots, so if Kansas wants to win they will have to foul a Texas player every other shot. But who wants to watch that?! I want to see two strong teams play well together. I want to see lots of running up and down the court. I want to see the guys having fun! If that happens, then no matter who wins, it’ll be basketball at its best! So, to quote my Texas relatives, “Rock Chalk Longhorn!”

Watcha Wearin'?

Back in the number 1 spot this week! Rock Chalk Jayhawk, Go KU!

She Shoveled Snow

Spent the morning shoveling snow off the sidewalks and driveway. Did a great job and paused to admire my work when I finished. I came in to dry off, warm up, and eat lunch before going back out to do my neighbor's walk. By the time I got back out there the sun had come up for the first time this year and melted the snow in the neighborhood. Mother nature took credit for all my hard work so I turned around and came back in for more hot chocolate.

She Sheared Sheep...

Tyler took turns trapping and taming the next target taken.
Sue sheared sheep Saturday with scissors, not shavers, stripping skin.

Nanc never knew gnarly-necked Nigerian dwarfs need naps.
Glen got good at getting the grazing and gorging of the group!
Me? I wore gloves to be immune from wool allergies and bad tongue twisters! Sheep shearing is over for another year for Nanc and Sue. I’m no good at it, but I had a great time helping again this year. I’m still sore, so let’s not do that again for another year!