This Working Out Thing Ain't Working Out!

True Story:

I love these different work-out you find on Pinterest (what the heck, DRINK!):
PERFECT '10' IN JUST TEN MINUTES A DAY:
1) 25 jumping jacks. Okay, no problem. I took PE in elementary school. Check.
2) 20 Mountain Climbers. Not 100% sure, but it's either this or that and either way is good for you. Check.
3) something like 1 min Thunder Grabs. - I have no idea, but it has to be some sort of cardio. So I'll just move to get the ol' heart a pumpin'. Check.
4) 25 Hindu Hops (or some other weird description) - by this time I'm certain they are just making crap up. So, I do the same. Let's see, I haven't wiggled this body part yet. I'll go with that. Check.
5) 20 Black Deaths - I don't freaking think so! I am usually talking out loud to myself by now. "Not doing any exercise with death in the title. Nope. I am duu-unnn. Heading myself over to the kitchen for some refridgerator squats, then I'll be couch planking...mumble, mumble"



Y'all. I really am on board with this whole exercise thing. Most of the time. But I also love to laugh. Here are some of my favorite Exercise memes:

Easter Dresses

 

When I was growing up, I remember that Easter dresses were kind of a big deal. Sometimes they were also an ordeal.  When I was a toddler, my mother attempted to make my dress. I shouldn’t say attempted – she succeeded, but from the stories I’ve heard it got pretty ugly before it was done. You can’t tell it by the pictures, though. She is smiling, kneeling down by me in her stylish horn-rimmed glasses. I am holding a giant inflatable Easter bunny. Our dresses match - a beautiful purple and mine has a cape.

Consider how the wild flowers grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. –Luke 12:27

 

I am pretty sure that was the last attempt to sew an Easter dress. Most years procuring a dress meant a whole Saturday of shopping. Not just locally. No, Easter dresses are special and require a trip to the big city nearby: Texarkana, Temple, Midland, or Lubbock – depending on where we lived at the time. Dad never understood what a near Herculean task this could prove to be. Every year, we were greeted at the end of a long day of shopping with, “Good grief, what took y’all so long?” and “I was worried sick and about to call the law!” (Remember, this was before cell phones.) Still, it was usually worth the effort. It was on one of these trips that we discovered THE dress. It was a pale pink, cotton-candy like creation, with lace and a dotted-Swiss, organza overlay. Up to that point in my young life it was the fanciest article of clothing this tom-boy had ever loved.

Blessed is the man who finds wisdom, the man who gains understanding, for she is more profitable than silver and yields better returns than gold. She is more precious than rubies; nothing you desire can compare with her. – Proverbs 3: 13-15

Sometimes it was more about the accessories than the actual dress. New white, patent leather sandals with little white lace trimmed socks were the standard for many years. However, I wasn’t afraid to take a risk, like the year I wore a white sundress that I layered with a yellow tank-top (for modesty’s sake) and YELLOW Huarache sandals. Oh yes, I did!! Then there was what I refer to as, The Year of the HAT. This particular year, we ordered dresses from the Sears catalog. I chose a navy and white horizontal stripe with a HUGE white sailor collar. It was the 80’s, so of course there were also big shoulder pads! It actually wasn’t too bad. The problem was the lady in the catalog was wearing a huge straw hat with a white hatband/bow. I thought it was amazing. Several times, my mom asked if I was sure about the hat. I insisted it had to be. At the time, I thought she was concerned about the money – it cost almost as much as the dress. Now, looking back at the pictures I see now that my mom had probably already come to accept what I had failed to yet realize - I simply look like a dork in a hat. Bless her heart, she often tried to tactfully save me from myself (there’s a whole other story about a perm! Yikes!!).

Charm is deceitful and beauty is vain, But a woman who fears the LORD, she shall be praised. – Proverbs 31:30

These days I hardly ever wear a dress to church, that is, except for Easter. There is something about the promise of hope, the celebration of the resurrection, and the newness of spring that requires dressing up. Today, as I reflect on the solemnness that is Good Friday, I rejoice, because I know Sunday is coming!!

 

(this was originally written in 2014)

Bump in the Night

The other night while getting ready for bed, I found a bump of unknown origin in a place I cant see and won't mention. I was concerned. I did everything I could to see this bump. I turned and twisted and even did some very unattractive yoga type poses by the mirror to try and get a look. By this point the bump is feeling irritated - probably from the pulling and rubbing. I had to know what it was! I grabbed my cell phone and snapped a picture. I zoomed in and studied it for a... bit. Probably a bug bite, maybe and in-grown hair but definitely (in my best Schwarzenegger, Kindergarten Cop voice) "It's not a tumor!" I deleted the picture, brushed my teeth and went to bed. I completely forgot about the whole thing.
The next afternoon, I was looking for pic for my blog. THAT PICTURE SHOWED UP IN RECENT PHOTOS!!! It scared me!
"Sweet Mother of Pearl! What the hell is that?" I yelped. Then I remembered. Then panic set in. Had I accidently shared that???
Nope. Thank you, Lord. (and the people all said, Amen) Apparently, just because it is deleted, doesn't mean your phone doesn't know you took it. Your phone knows things. Your phone is ashamed of you.

Aggie Spring Weekend 2017

We planned to leave on Friday morning. I got out of crochet class on Thursday evening, heated up and ate leftovers. Mr. G turned to me and said, "Let's go tonight." I replied, "okay."

That's of one the things that we love about each other...crazy ideas and a partner that's ready to roll. Don't get me wrong sometimes for the sake of the budget, one of us will have to tap the brakes, but for the most part we are off and running when the mood strikes.

We drove 6 hours (taking turns) and arrived in College Station around 3:15AM. We found a motel and food and hit the sack. We were told at check-in that we had until noon to check out. At 10:40 the next morning, we got a call to tell us we only had until 11:00. Grrr.... No time for a shower. Just brush teeth, brush hair and go. Now I like to think of myself as low maintenance, but I am not NO maintenance. We drove over to our friend's house and they weren't home. I changed clothes in their garage all the while praying they didn't have security camera! Ain't nobody wanna see that!! HAHA!

We headed to Duddley's Draw, Mr. G's version of Cheers. Truly, everybody knows your name. We shot pool, watched sports on TV, caught up with old friends, and yes...we had a few drinks. I managed to land reasonably priced tickets to the baseball game verses Auburn. It was my first visit to Olsen Field at Blue Bell Park!! It was his 200+ visit.

Love this picture of the team praying before the game!

Love this picture of my best friend doing what he loves. If you have a choice, I strongly recommend being married to your best friend. I have girl friends that I'm super close to and I know I am very blessed. However, when you pick someone to do life with, it's really helpful if you actually like that person.  

I was trying to catch a shot of the sun setting on Kyle Field which is visible (it's across the street, duh!) from the ballpark. It was really a neat shot...

 ...even more so when I zoomed in and realize I had managed to catch this dove in flight. There were a pair of doves that sat on a high wire. Pretty good seats to watch the Good Guys in Maroon

The final score was 2-1 them, however we won the next two games to win the series. Our one run was a result of a "BIG FLY" outta Olsen. Anytime the Aggies hit a homerun, the bubbles fly! There are so many tradition that are carried out during the game...Including, keeping up with the ball count when the opposing pitcher is struggling (the Aggie faithful chanting :Ball Five, ball five, ball five...ball six, ball six, etc).

This was Parents Weekend and the Maroon & White spring Football game. It was also the annual Crawfish Boil at Duddley's. Our friends live about a mile from Northgate, so we walked over.  It was my first time to eat crawfish. It was not my first time to drink a little drank.

                                                                                                                                                         

On the way back, we stopped in Morgan Mill. It sure was good to see Mom and Dad and we had a really good visit. We walked down to the barn to see the new baby calves and we did a little front porch sitting. Their place is pretty peaceful and a nice restful way to end a busy weekend.

Girl's Weekend 2017 - Part 2

 

 

 

Day 2: The plan was to go to Wimberley to their 1st Saturday Market Days thingy. So we were up and off pretty early for a Saturday when we got the text. Heather's nephew's wife works at the Facebook offices in Austin and would we like to have tour? Uhhh...YES! Please. This was a really cool experience and I was so glad we got the chance.

 

 

 This was one of the art installations we saw. This is a very intricate design that is in one of the hallways.

 

 

 

They provide everything you could need which eliminates the necessity to leave during the day. I'm sure this encourages productivity and creativity, but I wonder if a person might sometimes just want to go run an errand to get away for a while.

They have a vending machine that sells keyboards, mouses (mice??), phone chargers, etc.

Snacks available on every floor. They also have any kind of drink you could imagine. There is a cafeteria that offers (for FREE!) breakfast, lunch, and dinner.



Lounge area on one of the terraces.

The were lots of photo ops! This Instagram space was fun!

 

 

The girls and our host/tour guide,  Amanda...We really did enjoy the morning!

 

 

 

 Next stop: Wimberley & Lunch at the Cypress Creek Café. It was raining, but we still were able to dine outside under the patio cover with cool Christmas Lights/Wagon Wheel/CD chandeliers. The food was great and so was our waitress. Afterwards, we strolled around the downtown area and did a little shopping. It sprinkled most of the time. I found a cute little necklace with a cut out of Texas and a little pearl. The girls bought gourmet popcorn and we stopped in cute little coffee house. I am not a coffee drinker and I really thought Sip on the Square was going to be wine. HAHA!

 

 

We never made to the actual Market Days, but we decided we would definitely have to do that in the future.  Next on the agenda: Bar B Que at the Salt Lick in Driftwood. Again, there was a pretty good wait, but they have picnic tables out under a tent and music. It is BYOB, which we didn't but many did. There were a lot of people and people watching can be fun! As the song says, "It takes all kinds of kinds..."

 

 

I had sausage and brisket (no beans, no coleslaw, no potato salad, no thank you!) Heather mentioned that you could ask for the burned edges on the brisket. The bark is my favorite part. Oh, one more thing, the BBQ Sauce at the Salt Lick is in it's own category!

We wanted to go to a movie and the only tickets we could get were for the 10:05 pm show. This actually worked out perfectly. We enjoyed desert (Kenda), root beer floats (Heather) and chocolate covered pretzels (Me) while we watched "CHiPs". Not the funniest movie I've ever seen, but it was entertaining and a nice way to end the day. We had a horrible waiter, but his struggles became almost comical. Especially, when he took forever to bring Kenda's coffee to go with her desert and then when he finally brought it, he scooped up her half-eaten plate and was off. "I, uh, wasn't done with that" I heard Kenda say, but it was too late; he was gone.

 

 

 

The next morning all of the cell phones alerts went off. We were under a Tornado Warning. The three of us west Texas girls were not concerned at all until we saw the neighbors outside filming the sky.

 

We tuned in to the local news then, but the storm passed quickly. We loaded the car in the rain and headed for home. It was a fabulous weekend. You can't buy friends like mine and I know how blessed I truly am!!!

Girl's Weekend 2017 - Part 1

 

For the past 10-15 years my high school girl friends and I have tried to get together for a weekend of shopping, eating, talking, eating, laughing, sight-seeing, eating (you get the idea!). This year we headed to Austin & Wimberley.

 

...and we're off...(obligatory road trip selfie)

 

There is not much prettier than the hill country of Texas in the spring.

 

We Stopped in Llano for lunch. I had a smoked turkey and pepper-jack sandwich and it was heavenly! They also had really great tea which is the measuring stick I used to rate all restaurants.

 

I was amused by the clever play on words on their cups! "Smoking the Good Stuff since 1967"

 

When we got to Austin, Kenda was still at work so Heather and I took care of the first item of business! Pedicures! I am pretty "low maintenance", but this I will splurge on. I love the massage chair, I love the foot massage, and I enjoy finding cool ideas for paint. This time I got a shrimp color and confetti like polka dots in yellow, purple, white, blue & orange on the big toe.

 

 

Next, DINNER!! We decided to go to a really neat place called The Oasis on Lake Travis. There was a 45 minute wait, but not to worry, there is plenty of shopping and things to look at. The wait time flew by!

Waiting for our table...

 

 

 

 

The restaurant overlooks Lake Travis, hence the name. It was so beautiful! 

 

 

We watched a beautiful Texas Sunset over the lake while sharing chips and queso. Good friends and good food. My heart was very happy.  

Me standing by our table...

 Someone told us before we went that you pay for the view, but the food is not that great. Well, mine was delicious. I had The Taos Burger. It had caramelized rajas peppers and onions, mushrooms and a chipotle mayo. It was so flavorful...and a little spicy...my lips where burning when I was done.

March Crochet Projects

I have been busy with my new hobby! I made this cowl with some yarn that was given to me. I think this is going to be my auction item for the Waller Reunion this year.


This little owl is a coffee cozy. We will be staying with some friends this weekend when we go College Station and I am making a few things to take to them as hostess gifts!

 

 Pretty sure my mother does not read this blog! This is a test. I made this cell phone holder for her to hook on her belt loop when she is in the garden or down at the barn. I need to sew the button on it and get it in the mail to her. Hopefully, that will happen this week!!

 

I FINALLY finished this scarf. This was a project for my class and I really, really had to push myself to finish. I was bored with the whole project and therefore I lost interest. It was supposed to be all one color except for a complimenting band near the bottom. I couldn't take it. I started varying the colors and then a pattern developed. I like the way it turned out and I am proud of myself for finishing. (There I go adult-ing again!)

 



 

The next two pictures are examples of increasing. Depending on where the pattern tells you to add stiches, it will create different shapes and designs. I am fascinated by this...(by the way, the little owl above also uses this technique) I have also learned to decrease stiches, but I haven't found a project to use that on yet!

 These little buttons are the first two rounds of a magic circle. Vicki (our ever-patient instructor) suggested we make several to practice. She had several ideas for using these practice pieces for flowers and other things in future projects. This will be the way to begin a hat and I used the magic circle to make the eyes for the owl.

 

 

I like the way everything in crochet is broken down into just a few familiar stitches done a new way. One skill always seems to build on another.