Ragsland

I know it's been a while

2010-09-02T11:22:00.003-05:00

...So to make up for it, watch this video all the way through. I found it on Mr. McKnob.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WlNDBFJCW_M&feature=player_embedded

Sorry. You'll have to cut and paste the url, I can't get the video to imbed.

Is it a Great Value?

2010-05-19T09:00:00.004-05:00

In my continuing quest to save you money, the next item up for review is Great Value Sharp Cheddar cheese. It's priced well at $3.26/16 oz. package. I think it may have been on sale, but even at it's regular price of around $3.50, it's a Great Value compared to it's national name-brand counterparts.

I don't know about your family, but mine eats a lot of cheese. We're not huge casserole-type people, but for snacks, cheese and crackers is always at the top of our choices. We also use grated cheese a lot for breakfast, regular tacos for dinner, and salads. Most always, I buy the block of cheese and grate it as needed because it's cheaper and it doesn't have the added cellulose as a non-caking agent in the grated cheese packages.

That being said, regarding how my family uses cheese, I find the GV brand fine. The taste is good and it grates fine. My only issue with it is that it doesn't slice very well. It seems like the brick of cheese is really the left-over cheese curds that form during the commercial cheese-making process gathered up and pressed together with the moisture being removed. I'm, of course, making an assumption; I don't know how to make cheese. I only put that out there because of the way the cheese seems to break apart a little when you slice it. Kraft, Borden, and fine deli cheddars don't seem to have that problem.

Of course I will continue buying the GV brand. Considering it's price and quality, it's fine for how we use it. I think, though, if I'm using it for a cheese and cracker tray for a party or something, I'll get the better cheese.

By the way, today's the last day of school. Zac is having a couple of friends over to swim. I'll probably be making quesadillas for everyone!

AND, most importantly, one of the most important people in my life is having her birthday today. She's my Aunt Rhonda, but more. She truly is like a second mom.

She's been a moving presence in my life from the very beginning. I have early memories of my brother and me spending the weekend at her house playing in the den, watching her cut out patterns for the fabulous clothes she used to make, sneaking sips of her coffee (that she left out on purpose for us to sneak!), swimming at the lake, and taking road trips.

As I grew up, her role grew to a literal second mom by having my brother and me live with her young familiy during our high school years. Early days of playing in the den were replaced by laying out at the pool. Watching her cut out dress patterns were replaced by skilled shopping at the mall. Sips of coffee have now been replaced with sipping wine (or rum and diet coke) on the patio while my children run around her house playing and swimming.

Happy birthday, Rhonda. Everyone should be so fortunate to have a mom like you.

Okay, for real...two posts in one day?

2010-05-17T16:53:00.003-05:00

I'm letting you know that the "Cash for Clunkers" program was a ridiculous waste of time and money.

The reason?

My dear husband, George, has been looking for months, literally months, for a $5000 vehicle to replace his HONDA. The HONDA is an absolutely wonderful car, but it's just a tiny bit too small. He coaches 2 baseball teams (head coach for Jake and assistant for Zac) and has a ton of gear to carry around; he, of course, is a youth minister and has to haul around stuff for work like sound equipment, camping gear, people, groceries from Sam's, and a miriad other things.

Like I said, he's been looking for MONTHS for a larger vehicle: Ford Escape, Ford Expedition, Ford Explorer, Chevrolet Blazer, Hyundai SUV, Toyota SUV. All of these particular vehicles could be bought a year ago for $5000.

Because of CfC, there are none left. The people who buy these vehicles and trade them after 3, 4 or 5 years on something new, cashed in on the GOVERNMENT PROGRAM and took these vehicles out of the Used Car loop.

Certainly, we can't be the only ones experiencing this problem?

Unintended Concequences...

Is it a Great Value?

2010-05-17T10:09:00.005-05:00

As a disclaimer, I am absolutely not being compensated for my opinions relating to Wal Mart's Great Value store brand. I, like most people, am interested in making my dollar work harder and smarter to accomplish a wonderful life for my family. In my experience, the easiest way to stretch the household budget is in the grocery line-item.

I don't have much power over the price of the things my family uses or has. We have 2 paid-for vehicles, a 15-year mortgage, no credit cards, and a student loan payment. We've made choices on certain things. Granted, we could live in a smaller house with a lower mortgage, I could drive a less-expensive vehicle, or we could not run the air conditioner so much, but we choose certain things and pay for them accordingly.

I tell you all of that to let you know that I'm just offering my opinion on the Great Value brand of groceries, whether or not my family likes their taste, I like their performance when I cook with them, or I generally believe it is a good substitute for its national name-brand counterpart.

I went shopping yesterday and spent $212.57, of which $60.17 was GV branded. As I move through this batch of groceries, I'll attempt to offer my opinion on what we're using as we use it.

FIRST UP:

Great Value Twist and Shout Chocolate Sandwich Cookies.

They were only $1.77 for an 18-ounce bag.

They were the same size as the Oreo cookies, except with not as much cream in the middle. The cookie seemed a little bit crisper than the Oreo, but tasted exactly the same. I'm not much of a cookie dunker, but Zac told me that they held up well to dunking in milk.

I thought they were great, and at $1.77/bag, indeed a Great Value! (Ha ha, see what I did there??)

Anyway, I'll be buying these again in place of Oreos, except maybe if we're having company!

**Edited to add
I thought I wouldn't have these GV cookies for company because I didn't think I'd want anyone to really KNOW that I'm *that* cheap, but really...shouldn't a "Great Value" be shared with everyone?

Just a quick note...

2010-05-10T09:33:00.004-05:00

I've got a few things rattling around in my head, a couple of which are political in nature and one is an idea I've had about my opinions on some grocery items (non-compensated, of course). I need to finish my thoughts about them and I'll get it posted. Please stay tuned.

At any rate, Mother's Day was terrific. George, the boys and I drove home from the weekend in San Antonio for a family get-together. Naturally, we stopped at Taco Cabana as soon as we hit Houston on the way to SA, went to TC for breakfast when we left yesterday morning, then went to Ikea on our way back through Houston on our way home.

Ikea wasn't as crowded as I expected. We got the mirrors for the boys' bathroom, a shelf for their bathroom for over the sinks, a new mattress for Zac's double bed, some new glasses, straws and some napkins. I love the paper napkins at Ikea. They're thick, big, and not too expensive. (Click on the hyper-links and you ought to be able to see what we got.)

We got home last night around 8:00. The boys showered, ate some dinner, Zac finished up some homework, and went to bed. George and I stayed up and watched Saturday Night Live with Betty White I'd recorded. How hilarious was she???!!! I stayed up later to watch Breaking Bad after George went to bed. What a fantastic show. Very dark, but great purposeful story-telling not often experienced on a television show.

Now, I'm supposed to be cleaning out the boys' dressers so we can begin the monumental task of switching their rooms around and cleaning and organizing them so George's mom and my mom will have a decent place to sleep when they're visiting in a couple of weeks. Obviously, I'm putting it off as long as I can.

Better get to work.

Blinded By the Light

2010-04-30T19:04:00.003-05:00

I just dropped and broke a compact fluoroescent light bulb...

WHAT DO I DO?????!!!!!!

Do I call the EPA? President Obama? Ghost Busters?

I swept it up and threw it away.

Where Have You Been?

2010-04-08T09:47:00.004-05:00

I've been updating a lot lately on FaceBook and have ignored my blog. I guess it's because it's so easy to just jot down an idea or upload a photo on FB instead of organizing my thoughts into something coherent here.

Honestly, though, I just read through my posts back to Zac's birthday in August. Not much has changed.

I've begun to notice how my family's year-to-year activities are just about the same. You could overlay the calendar from one year to the next year and not have much variation: Jake's birthday, Mardi Gras, my birthday, Easter, baseball, summer vacation, youth trips, George's birthday, school, Zac's birthday, Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. Those are the big highlights.

I always thought it was strange when I was a kid when the adults around me would comment on how quickly time goes by. I completely understand now.

One more thing...I've had over 6,000 hits on my blog since it started. There are also 8 followers. Pretty cool.

Ice Cream Man

2010-03-06T20:59:00.003-06:00

Hey everyone. This is a quick post to let you know that I haven't forgotten about my blog. I've been a little preoccupied.

We had an EXTRA-FABULOUS trip to Disney World a couple of weeks ago that if you follow me on Facebook, you were able to attend vicariously. I'll get some pix up later to update my faithful readers...

Baseball has started back up as have the spring events of youth ministry in South Louisiana

But, I'm here to tell you now that I've come across the best ice cream I've ever had. And I'll tell you that I've had some of the best ice cream EVER (I am from Texas after all). Between my grandma's homemade vanilla/peach/strawberry and Blue Bell (any flavor), I would consider myself an aficionado.

Tonight's revelation is New Orleans Ice Cream Co. Cream Cheese flavor. It was sweet and savory at the same time, if that makes sense. Not too sweet, yet creamy and delicious.

It was a little pricey, almost $5 for a pint, but well worth it for a special treat. They have several other flavors which hint at the New Orleans style, Chocolate City, Praline Crunch, and Ponchatoula Strawberry, just to name a few.

I hope you can find it in your store. I bought it at Winn Dixie. Until recently, it was only available in extreme Southern Louisiana, but it appears as though they're expanding their distribution.

Hopefully you can find it. If you can't, you can come here for a visit and I'll hook you up!

I don't have a snarky song title for this post

2010-02-25T20:39:00.002-06:00

I'm totally aggravated by American Idol.

I didn't watch it until the year Fantasia won and since then I've been hooked. I guess that's long enough to say I'm a die-hard fan. I watch from the humiliating beginnings until the bloody-fingers-from-voting end.

Tonight they let go of Tyler Grady, the kid who auditioned in Boston with braces on his arms. I loved him. He was super cool...probably too cool for AI.

All I heard from the judges for the last, I don't remember how many weeks, was how cool, neat, retro, or sexy he was. So...last night he brings the cool, neat, retro and sexy and they lambasted him. They told him he was a one-trick pony, he needed to be more current, yada yada.

He was totally sabotaged.

I don't know how far behind AI season 9 I can get.

It's Magic

2010-01-28T17:40:00.005-06:00

I don't know if it's the super-secret chemical that will burn a hole in my pipes, poison the water table, and create three-headed fish, or the abrasive grit, but the Mr. Clean Magic Eraser is the only thing that will clean my bathtub.

I love it.

I'd show you a before and after picture, but I'm not that into full disclosure.

And in other news...Seriously, am I the only one who is bothered by my question in the last post? C'mon. Surely there are opinions, especially after last night's petulant, childish thrashing the Supreme Court, Congress, Senate, previous Administration, and the American public took from the President.

What's the Frequency, Kenneth?

2010-01-27T11:07:00.002-06:00

I have a question. I would like everyone to chime in, whether or not I know you.

Does anyone have any idea when the American workforce began being referred to as "workers?"

This has troubled me for a while and I'd like to hear some ideas on the subject.

That is all.

Do You Want to Know a Secret

2010-01-22T12:52:00.004-06:00

George and I have been keeping a huge secret from the kids. Over the Mardi Gras break, we're going to America's Mecca, Disney World.

We were going to pick up the kids from school on Friday, February 12, head east and see how long it takes them to figure out our destination.

Last night I picked up Zac from baseball practice. He asked me when was Valentine's Day. He grabbed my phone to look at the calendar to see which day was the 14th and pushed the key to open the day.

I figured I would let it slip eventually, but I thought it would be kind of like that scene in Austin Powers where he can't stop saying mole. I'm the worst at keeping things to myself. It's been all I could do to not blurt this out.

Cover Me

2010-01-18T19:43:00.004-06:00

George and the kids were home today for the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. federal holiday. Around here we don't get Presidents Day, but by Jeebus, we will celebrate the Doctor. Don't get me started.

Anyway, in the spirit of President Obama's mandate to make this day a day of service, my people served me quite well.

They cleaned off the car port. Now I can park my Suburban under cover.

Doesn't it look nice?

Ice Ice Baby

2010-01-17T12:17:00.017-06:00

Friday night was Jake's long-awaited birthday party at the ice skating rink. He had wanted Laser Tag, but after skating in San Antonio a couple of weeks ago, he changed his mind.

To say I was a little nervous about the party is a bit of an understatement. Jake hasn't had an official party since he turned 5, when we had a home party with a magician. That was super fun, but really small. When your birthday is in January, right after Christmas, before school starts back it's hard to get in touch with people for invitations. Also, most people's party cache is spent, including my own. I was determined to make a party happen for Jake this year.

I felt like we started this deal with a few strikes against us:

1. We scheduled the party for Friday night at 7:30. Saturdays are pretty busy for most people, especially us, so I didn't really want to pile on another appointment. The open session at the ice rink didn't start until 7:30, a little late, but still do-able.
2. The rink is in a not very nice part of Baton Rouge. It's not terrible, but not really great either.
3. The south isn't really known for its prowess in winter sports, so we weren't really sure how many people would come for ice skating.

I let Jake invite 20 kids in hopes that maybe half would show. By the time it was all said and done, 22 kids were "officially" invited (with an actual invitation). I was more than nervous. 22 kids at $9 each would turn into the party of the century for the Ragsland. Every day when I picked up Jake from school, he told me about another friend he'd "unofficially' invited. I think he asked another 4 or 5 kids. Finally I had to tell him to not invite anymore kids because this party was getting very expensive. He was very sweet and actually began to concern himself a little too much with the cost of this Throw Down.

I got the cake ordered and bought party favors for everyone. Every once-in-a-while, I have a moment of creative cuteness. The party favors we gave out were a pair of gloves and a pack of Ice Breakers gum (the pieces of gum are shaped like ice cubes!). We gave them out as everyone got there so they could use their gloves while they skated.

We ordered pizza from Papa John's on the way to the rink. It was delivered around 8:00 and as kids came in to rest or whatever, they had some pizza. When the Zamboni resurfaced the ice, everyone came to the table and Jake opened his gifts and we served cake. Everyone finished off the pizza too.

Jake got some really wonderful gifts. He got over $100 in cash and gift cards, if you can believe that! He also got 2 different Air Hogs toys that he's wanted since he saw the commercials on TV. He also got a game for his DSi. I was really stunned by everyone's generosity!

As it turned out, 14 kids came to the party. Add to that all of the parents and siblings, I think there were about 35 people there (We only paid for the invited kids! All the others were on their own). It was really a blast.

Sometime during the night, Jake came over to me and said, "I'm having a great time at my party, Mom; thank you," and he gave me a huge hug. That made the party priceless.

Here are some pictures:

The party favors.

Hockey-player cake.

Gifts.

The birthday boy.

Baby It's Cold Outside

2010-01-08T14:17:00.005-06:00

The kids are out of school today due to extreme cold.

That's right. I said cold.

The temperature this morning was 19 degrees. Ordinarily, that wouldn't call off school, but there was great fear that since there was rain yesterday that the roads would be iced over. I think they called off school prematurely, seeing as how the midwest has been experiencing blizzard after blizzard with feet of snow being dumped on them. At least we don't get much snow, if at all. The roads are dry this morning.

However, George was supposed to go with the confirmation class on a short retreat tonight and tomorrow in central Louisiana. This is the rescheduled retreat that was cancelled early in December due to the snow!

He just got a call about an hour ago from the camp director that the camp's water pipes were busted and they couldn't host the retreat. Two scheduled, two cancelled. I told George that the kids would get confirmed with or without this retreat. He just went to his office to start making calls to all of the kids.

The boys have been watching Transformers 2 this morning. I've been in my room catching up on TV shows I've recorded the last few weeks. Now I'm watching The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. It's an interesting movie. It kind of makes me think of Forest Gump.

At any rate, the retreat was cancelled, which is what I was really hoping for. I also hope that George doesn't try to reschedule it AGAIN!

Double Vision

2010-01-07T09:26:00.007-06:00

I'm listening to Glenn Beck on the radio right now. Actually, I'm streaming WGST out of Atlanta on the computer because my local AM talk channel carries a really nice, but boring local guy.

Something he said really cracked me up. He said that Nancy Pelosi looks like Fire Marshall Bill.

What do you think?

I think it's uncanny. Unfortunately, the fundamental dismantling of the U.S. is not a comedy.

hello goodbye

2010-01-05T21:13:00.002-06:00

I only chose that title because it exemplifies "yin and yang" as it pertains to balance.

I laughed really hard at this commercial. I hope you do too.

Getting Better

2010-01-04T09:30:00.005-06:00

Between Atlas Shrugged, the general state of the Union, and my Aunt Rhonda's car accident, I was in a little bit of a funk the second half of 2009.

2010 has arrived, I picked up Atlas Shrugged again (and WILL finish it this year), saw Rhonda last week (who, by the way, is up with healed legs, motoring herself around on a walker and on her way to a complete recovery, praise God), and read this article by Maureen Dowd (could the bloom be off the rose?).

It's getting better all the time
Better Better Better
It's getting better all the time
Better Better Better
Getting so much better all the time

And last, but never least, Jake's 8th birthday was yesterday.

We went to church where his name was included in the birthday reading for the day, had lunch at Jake's favorite restaurant, and let him pick out a new skateboard at Rukus Board Shop. After we got home, I changed clothes and took him to the skate park for the rest of the afternoon.

It's getting better all the time
Better Better Better
It's getting better all the time
Better Better Better
Getting so much better all the time

Indeed, it's getting better.

This just in...

2009-12-02T20:26:00.000-06:00

I turned on the heater today.

We Are the Champions...NOT

2009-10-10T23:52:00.002-05:00

I saw this on The Reluctant Optimist and HAD to share it.

Go check him out if you're ever in the mood for something irreverent, but thought provoking. Sometimes it's not safe for work, but he always warns you.

The Ragsland Exchange

2009-09-30T18:43:00.002-05:00

So tonight the boys and I are watching Wheel of Fortune.

I solved the puzzle with only about 10 letters showing: AN UNFORGETTABLE ISLAND EXPERIENCE.

The boys and I were talking about how I would so win if I could get on Wheel. Jake asked me how my friend Sherri did when she got on and we talked about that a few minutes when finally someone solved the puzzle. It happened to be a prize puzzle where the winner got a trip to Hawaii's big island to stay at the Hilton Waikaloa Village. As they were showing the clip of the resort, I told the boys that I'd been to Hawaii and that's where I stayed.

As they were watching, Zac turned to me and said, "You know I stayed up all night the day before you came home from that trip."

I asked, "Because you missed me so much?" and Zac replied in his usual teenaged-I-don't-like-my-parents-way, "No, I was just up all night." He then went back to the dining room table to finish his homework.

Jake leaned over and whispered to me, "He stayed up all night because he really did miss you."

All the Single Ladies

2009-09-29T16:25:00.002-05:00

Check out this video. In my recent memory, I don't know if I've laughed as hard. And I certainly hope this family submits this video to America's Funniest Home Videos.

I originally saw this clip on a blog called "Notes to Self." If you have a moment, go over there and check her out. The author's name is Kyran Pittman. She's an ex-pat Canadian who married a man from Arkansas. She is also the daughter of noted poet, Al Pittman.

Her words are like a soothing balm.

School of Rock

2009-09-25T21:37:00.006-05:00

Today started just as an ordinary day, with a few changes...or also called A Day In the Life.

I got up early. George slept in. I showered. I woke up Zac. He was annoyed that I didn't wake him up earlier. He wanted to ride the bus to school.

The bus came about 6:35. I woke Zac up around 6:15. He hustled around, got dressed, got his PE clothes, and gathered up his homework. He was outside by 6:33 waiting with Haley, our next-door neighbor, for the bus.

I finished cooking breakfast (breakfast tacos). Zac assured me he would eat breakfast at school. (He's reading over my shoulder and confirmed that he did eat at school. He just called me a weirdo.)

I sat at the computer and caught up with my internet friends Suburban Bliss, McK Mama, McVal, and The Reluctant Optimist, among others.

George was still asleep. Before you go and judge him for sleeping in, I think this was the first time since May he'd slept after 7:00. I went and started getting dressed.

Jake woke up around 7:40 and stumbled into my bathroom. I encouraged him to lay down in bed with Dad for a little while longer. He got up around 7:55 and started getting dressed. I went and got his breakfast together for him.

We left the house at 8:20. The usual talk ensued:

"What time is it?"
"Are you speeding?"
"Did you get my ______ in my book sack?' (You may use your imagination to fill in that blank. It's been everything from homework to field trip money, to a love letter for Joselyn so far in his scholastic carreer.)

I dropped him off at school at 8:36. School starts at 8:40.

I got to work at 8:45 and did the usual. I helped a couple of customers, answered the phone and answered their questions, (self-storage is very mysterious), ran some diagnostic junk on the computer. My co-worker, April came in at 12:00 for me because we were closing on our refinance on our house at 2:00.

I booked home to find some papers I needed to complete the cashier's check I needed for the closing. Naturally, I cannot be trusted with such an important piece of paper. I'd had it in my hand just the day before, knowing that I needed it today, I set it aside. I think I set it in the pile of papers I threw away, because, you know, I was multi-tasking and cleaning out my important paper basket while I got all of my stuff together.

I called George to ask him if he would come home to help me look for said important paper. He was at Jake's school giving him a Tylenol and making him drink a bottle of water. The school had called me while I was still at work to let me know that Jake was in the office complaining of a headache. I asked them if I could bring him some Tylenol, they said sure. I had a lot to do today and didn't need an ill child on top of it all. I figured he was a little dehydrated because he didn't drink anything in the morning before he went to school.

Anyway.

George told me to forget about it and meet him at Sammy's for lunch. George had a cup of seafood gumbo and I had the shrimp salad.

We went back home and tore it apart looking for the important papers. We did not find them.

I had to sign an affidavit of loss at the bank. They made the cashier's check for the closing.

We closed on the house. Dude. 4.875% for 15 years! I told my mom that I felt like a real grown-up today. I shopped a good mortgage and really scored a deal.

Anyway, we got all of that done and went home. The boys got home from school and we pittled around.

George and the boys left for baseball practice and I went to the grocery store. While I was picking up the 7 things on my list (which turned into $150 later) I heard this kid saying "Dad, can I get a Pepsi?! Dad! Dad, can I get a Pepsi?!" and I thought that it sounded like something my kids would say/do. Well, when I looked over there, it was Jake! yelling at George for a drink. I don't think I'll ever forgive those kids for demanding Pepsi products. I'm a very loyal Coke person. I think they just do it to annoy me.

Anyway.

I went home and started dinner. I watched the replay of "Fast Forward" and watched "Glee" that I had recorded from earlier in the week. I think I'm going to like "Fast Forward" and "Glee" is easily one of my favorites this season so far.

So the boys got home and of course George changed the channel. He did change it to Palladium, though, so it wasn't all bad.

The boys got in the shower and we watched the first part of the concert on Palladium: Rush. I had to pause it for the boys. They were about to receive an education from the finest in rock music.

We watched and listened to Geddy Lee sing "Tom Sawyer," which, if I remember correctly was the first song played on the juke box we had in the cafeteria when I was in 8th grade. We contiued to marvel at Neil Peart's primer on drums for the solo section of the concert and were dazzled by the guitar stylings of Alex Lifeson. All the hits were there, Limelight, Spirit of the Radio, Tom Sawyer, Working Man, Fly By Night. Oh My Gosh. It was a time warp.

To the boys' credit, they recognized the greatness. They watched the entire concert and were duly impressed. Zac begged for drum lessons and Jake dragged out his guitar and played the 3 chords he knows (C, G, and D) while singing a song he made up. It was awesome.

We had HOMEMADE chicken parmesan for dinner.

I call it an excellent day.

Flood

2009-09-18T18:21:00.003-05:00

I'm sure President Bush was behind this, you know, because he doesn't care about black people and all.

Anticipation

2009-09-13T20:17:00.003-05:00

What you’ve all been waiting for.

Or maybe not. I’m just hoping that I can give this story justice. I’ve been teasing it long enough that it’s probably lost it’s humor.

It’s like when the movie Home Alone came out. George’s dad had seen it and did nothing but talk about how funny the movie was, how he was laughing so hard he was crying, and that it was now his favorite movie. When George and I finally got around to seeing it several weeks after it’s release, we didn’t find it nearly as funny as the people, especially George’s dad, who had told us about it.

So, with that in mind I will tell you about when my mom got in the fight with the other fan at Jacob’s game this summer.

It was crazy hot here at the beginning of the summer. The temperatures had been at or above 100* for several days, with about 2000% humidity. It was the type of day that everyone, including myself, believes we have all the time here in south Louisiana. Having lived here now almost 6 years, I’ve learned that the summers here aren’t as bad as the rest of the world thinks.

Anyway, it was crazy hot, over 100*. We were at a 7-year old tournament in Donaldsonville, LA. This park where we were playing was horrible. There was absolutely no shade, no stands except some small stands directly behind home plate, and not much space between each field. I’m not sure if hot and cramped describe the park well enough.

Several people brought their own EZ-UP tents for shade and placed them in the designated areas to watch games. When we entered the tournament a couple of weeks before, all of the parents received a packet of instructions from the D-ville park. The instructions were all of the usual things: no profanity, yelling at the umpires was grounds for ejection, etc., etc. One unusual piece of information pertained to the use of EZ-UP tents. It stated (and I’m paraphrasing) that if you put up a tent for your game, you must remove it when your game is over or allow the next team’s fans to use it. No big deal, right?

Well, our game came up. The game before ours was an 8-year old game. There were a couple of grandparents for that team who had their tent up on their team’s side of the field, which, after their game, became our team’s side of the field. They left their tent up and in that place because their other grandson was playing our team in the next game, but they had the other dugout and didn’t want to move it to the other side. As it turned out, their 8-year old grandson had the game after ours too, so they were set for 3 games in a row. Ordinarily it wouldn’t be a big deal, except that the day before they were also there and thought the Zachary fans, very rudely, moved their chairs from under the tent to set up our own chairs. We did move their chairs, but we were under the impression that, according to the tournament rules, we could use their tent if it was left up. So you can probably tell by now that their feelings were already hurt and they were on the defensive.

When we were setting up for our game, they made it very clear that they were not moving. They had set up for the 8-y.o. game, the 7-y.o. game, and the next 8-y.o. game because their grandsons were in all those games. They were in the front of the tent very spread out and right next to the fence. We reminded them of the rule that they were supposed to share their tent with the next game if they didn’t move it. They said fine and pointed to all of the area behind them.

Here’s where it begins to get a little fuzzy.

I was the team’s scorekeeper and had to be able to see the game, so I wiggled my chair in there next to grandma. I was sort of under their tent and the one next to us straddling the poles. My mom, on the other hand, was behind them and couldn’t see anything. I scanned the fence and noticed that if the dad who was standing at the fence scooted down a little I could get my mom’s chair in right next to grandpa. He, happily, moved down and helped me get the chair in and mom sat down.

As mom was settling in, she said, in a louder than normal voice, “We could all get in under this tent if these people weren’t so hateful.”

Grandma said, “We’re not hateful, it’s our tent.”

Mom replied, “Well the tournament rules state that if you leave your tent up, the next team’s fans may use it.”

Grandpa said, “You all can go ahead and use it, but we’re not moving.”

Mom said, “Well you’re supposed to move for the next game.”

By now, the whole tent was in rapt attention to the conversation between my mom and this couple.

Grandpa’s voice getting a little louder, “We don’t have to move the tent, this next game is ours too. Our 7-y.o. grandson is playing in this game, and our 8-y.o. is playing again after this game. We came all the way from Gonzales to see our grandsons play in these games.”

Mom, getting more and more aggravated, said (something like), “Well good for you, my other grandson is playing a tournament in Gonzales right now and we’re missing that game for this one. We came all the way from Zachary for these games and I came all the way from San Antonio, Texas to see my grandsons play baseball this summer.” (Read that with all the sarcasm you can muster).

**Aside** Zachary is about 50 minutes from Donaldsonville, and Gonzales is about 20 minutes from D-ville. You can figure for yourself how far San Antonio is from D-ville. Nevermind. I’ll figure it out for you--7 hours, 49 minutes, according to the map on my iPhone. Did I tell you that I have an iPhone?

Grandpa replied, extremely rudely, “Well why don’t you just go back to San Antonio, Texas?” (Again with the sarcasm!)

Mom said, “I only get to see my grandsons play ball once a year. I don’t intend to miss their games. And as a matter of fact, why don’t you go back to Gonzales where you came from?”

All this time, mind you, I’m sitting next to grandma, and, obviously, we’re going to be sitting next to this couple the entire game! The other parents on our team were speechless as we surrounded these folks.

Thankfully, the game started and we were able to focus on the game. At some point, the daughter of the grandma and grandpa (mom to the ball-player grandsons) came over to visit her parents on the opposing side. I'm not sure how the conversation came around to this, but she reminded all of us Zachary people over there under the tent that we moved all of their chairs out and replaced them with ours. Then someone from our team reminded her of the tent rule. Oh brother, I was afraid it was about to begin again. She laughed it all off and basically counted it up to super hot weather and high tensions for the games. Of course, we all knew better.

We got them though. The Zachary 7s won the game something like 14-2. It was a 10-run mercy rule game.

Although...now that I write this and read over it...I think they think we must be like the Kenner team!!!!!!!

Rage Against the Machine

2009-09-11T20:50:00.004-05:00

Check this out. I think I may be on a GOVERNMENT WATCH LIST!!

I'm sure Barack Obama is really interested in Zac's iPhone, the boys' baseball games, and what I watch on TV.

You know, with the imminent threat of terrorists, the spiraling down of the economy, and what not, checking in on what I'm up to is a matter of national import.

P.S. Click on the image to enlarge. The entry in question is the second one on the list.

The Ragsland Exchange

2009-09-10T21:58:00.002-05:00

Tonight we were watching Neil Young's Prairie Harvest Home concert on Palladia. Or whatever it was called. I kept commenting to George that every Neil Young song sounded alike. George is a HUGE fan of Mr. Young, so I occasionally indulge him. Anyway, he said something about his 21 year-old daughter finishing her last year of college and how he wrote a song for her. He called it an "empty-nester" song and compared it to the songs he used to write for girls when he was younger. So I asked George if Neil Young was married, figuring such a HUGE fan and all, he'd know. He did not. I looked for the tell-tale wedding ring and finally noticed it.

All the while, Zac, waiting to jump into the conversation said, "He must be married, he's got a daughter."

I, the ever-realist, said, "Well, sweetness, you don't have to be married to have children."

To which Zac replied, "Oh yeah, he could've adopted her."

I don't yet have the heart to tell him otherwise.

Birthday, Redux

2009-08-21T16:57:00.006-05:00

As I told you yesterday, it was Zac's 13th birthday; and as you may remember, he had quite a nice list of items we could get him.

George and I are officially THOSE parents. You know, the ones who make it difficult on all of the other parents because they get their child something ridiculous for a birthday or Christmas.

We got Zac "the best birthday present EVER!" (his exact words) The hyper-link will send you to my sentiments regarding birthdays and iPhones.

An iPhone.

Before you go high and to the right on me, allow me to explain. Zac's phone was due for an upgrade, and we wanted to get him an iPod for his birthday. Well, the iPod was more expensive than the iPhone!

We already had a media plan on the phone he was using, so the increased expense of the media package on our, already, exorbitant bill was negligible. You may remember the telephone bill we received a few months ago...

At any rate, it's fun being "those" parents once in a while. I'm grateful that we have the means to dote on our children lavishly...sometimes.

Leavin' on a Jet Plane

2009-08-20T13:36:00.002-05:00

How come I'm never on these kinds of flights?

A couple on a Southwest Flight from Oakland to St. Louis got into a fight where one of the people began stripping off their clothes.

Why do I always sit next to the person who insists on talking to me the entire flight even when I've got a book open and my head phones in?

Read the story.

Gotta Feeling

2009-08-20T09:11:00.004-05:00

Tonight's gonna be a good night.

Today is Zac's 13th birthday.

For his birthday dinner, he'd like to go to Texas Roadhouse. George and I usually have a pretty strict policy against eating out locally at a chain restaurant, but the Texas Roadhouse is fun with the peanuts and all, and has good steaks. We're all looking forward to it.

What do you get a 13-year old for his birthday? The list he's given is extensive: weight set, XBox 360, laptop computer, iPhone, iPod touch, a new bat, a new WOODEN bat, and the moon and the stars, with the space shuttle thrown in for good measure, just in case he wasn't feeling special enough.

I'll let you know tomorrow what we've given him, just in case he logs in to read this today. I don't want to give away the surprise. By the way, I love, love, love that picture I posted. Zac took it of himself with my iPhone and I use it as the thumbnail photo when he calls me from his phone. It makes me smile.

You may be wondering where I've been lately. Or not. But if you are, I'll let you know. I've been in a bit of a funk since July 26. My Aunt Rhonda and her daughter-in-law, Rachel (my cousin) were in a horrific car accident on that Sunday evening on their way up to their lake house. From what the several on-scene witnesses say, the guy driving his car south-bound on Hwy 281 was slumped over the steering wheel (probably asleep/hungover/drunk), cut across 4 lanes of traffic and hit Rhonda's car head-on while she was traveling north-bound on Hwy 281(both vehicles moving at 70mph). Miraculously, everyone survived. I don't know the current status of the 3 guys in the other vehicle, but, both Rhonda and Rachel are home now; Rachel, after a week in the hospital, with a serious abdominal surgery to repair some tears and perforations in her colon and a broken foot; and Rhonda, after surgery to set, pin and plate compound fractures in both femurs just above the knees, in addition to an extremely dangerous brain bleed. Rhonda also spent a week in rehab learning how to maneuver herself in and out of her wheelchair and learning exercises to begin the rehabilitation of her legs.

It's been a long 3-and-a-half weeks.

I don't know if I've ever prayed more in my entire life.

It is nothing short of a miracle that everyone survived, especially Rhonda.

Now the really hard work begins.

In other news (how 'bout that segue?), the boys started school on the 10th. I've been so funky lately that I didn't get any pictures, but they're basically the same as last year. They're both doing very well. Jake enjoys doing his homework and studying, if you can believe that, and Zac has settled in to the more difficult schedule I changed him to. He bragged last year that he hadn't used a single brain cell all year (evidenced by all A's and only 2[very high] B's on his report card for all four 9 weeks of the school year) so I changed his schedule to take Algebra I and the robotics elective. There was a great deal of weeping and gnashing of teeth over these changes all summer and spilling into the first couple of days of school, but he's doing fine now and really enjoys the robotics class. I think he's secretly enjoying the Algebra class too.

Anyway, it's good to talk with you again, internet. I'll let you know tomorrow what Zac got for his birthday, AND, I'll tell you about my mom fighting with the fan at Jake's baseball game this summer.

We Are the Champions Reprise

2009-07-22T16:06:00.012-05:00

I'll try to do the tournament weekend justice. Unfortunately, I can't remember the scores, but a win is a win. We stayed in Jennings, LA at the Hampton Inn which was about 15 minutes from the small ballpark in Gueydan. The Madisonville and Kenner teams stayed there too.

To tell you that I was nervous about playing games in BFE (Gueydan) is an understatement. The weekend before these games we played in Donaldsonville at an invitational tournament (the one where the 7s won against Kenner). The facilities in Donaldsonville were pitiful. There were no covers over the stands, and only one set of stands, directly behind the backstop, not to mention that it was impossibly hot. Donaldsonville had no control over the weather, though, but it was miserable. And we had to go back for the 12s tournament.

Gueydan, however, did a really nice job with the tournament. You could tell that they had recently done a lot of upgrades to the area like new covers over the stands, backstop nets, and sidewalks around the area. The people running the tournament were super nice and excited to be hosting, and the concession stand wasn't ridiculously expensive. We were playing on their high school girls' softball field.

The 7s tournament began on Friday night at 8:00, of all times, against the Gueydan home team, which is actually Abbeville. We won that game and played again the next day at high noon against New Iberia. All of the games went 6 innings with no time limit. Jake played every inning but one. The New Iberia game was a blow-out. The score was something like 19-2, so the mercy rule was applied after the fourth inning. Jake only caught 3 of those innings so his legs would be a little less rubbery for the...du du du duuuuh...Kenner game at 6:00 that evening.

After the NI game, everyone went back to the hotel to eat a light lunch and relax. George had a bunch of sandwich stuff left over from a youth trip from which he'd just returned, so we got all of that out in the hotel lobby. Someone brought out a bunch of fruit, another person brought a bag of individual chips, and someone else brought out some cookies. It was like the feeding of the 5000, only there were only about 50 of us. We also had Powerades that I'd gotten donated from Coca-Cola in Baton Rouge. After lunch, everyone went to their rooms for a nap and to relax.

We made it back to the park in BFE, oh I mean Gueydan, for the game against Kenner. I don't remember the score, but it was a very close loss, which meant we played again Sunday afternoon at 3:00 against Madisonville, who had just played and won a game against Plaquemine. We won that game pretty handily, if I remember correctly, which put us back against Kenner. Because the tournament was double-elimination we had to beat them twice. The first game was Monday evening at 6:00.
We had checked out of the hotel Sunday morning, so the Monday game was a travel game. I think that worked to our favor, not being in the hotel. Our kids slept in their own beds, showered in their own showers, and relaxed at home without the excitement of the hotel. Jake slept until 11:00 Monday morning.

When we made it to the ballpark in Gueydan (about an hour-and-a-half away) the tension was high. Speaking for myself, I was so nervous I could hardly breathe.
We were the visiting team, so we batted first. Right away, we put 5 runs on the board. I think Kenner only put up one. We were back up and put up 2 more, then Kenner answered with 2. I don't remember the rest--it was like an out of body experience--but we won. I do remember that Jake had at least 2 throw-outs at first on the bunt and he had a put-out at home. He also kept countless runners on 3rd from running in to score. I think the final score was something like 9-7. We had a 30 minute break and had to play again.

The second game was much like the first. We stayed ahead the whole time even though we were the visiting team. At Kenner's last at-bat, the score was 10-8. We had to hold them. They put up 5 batters, two got on base, and the other 3 were out. Two of the outs were catcher to first base throw-outs. By the end of the tournament, Jake had caught 33 innings over 4 days. He was fantastic. He was a little bummed (and I don't blame him) that he didn't win the MVP for the tournament; his best friend, Derek did. Derek plays short stop and made some terrific plays in that position, but more importantly, he had some fabulous hits that drove in several runs.
We had a hard time explaining to Jake that it's really hard batting when you're the catcher because your legs are so tired.
All the boys got a first-place medal and the coach got a plaque for the win.

And now for the agony of defeat...

The 12-year old team played the following weekend back in Donaldsonville. Again, we played Friday night against someone I can't remember and won. We played again Saturday afternoon against another team and lost which put us playing again Sunday. Right after our game Saturday, a humongous thunderstorm rolled in and rained out all the games after ours which meant the Sunday morning 9:00 game got pushed back to 1:00, which after the schedule running late (the 12s also played 6 innings, no time limit), we weren't playing until about 3:30. We won that game. (I can't for the life of me remember who we played.) Since we won, we had to play again at 6:30 or so and we lost.
You can tell by the 12 yo recap that I spent my baseball emotional cache the previous weekend on the 7s. What's aggravating about the 12 yo games is that we've beaten all of the teams who beat us in this tournament. These 12s just can't seem to put it all together at the same time to keep a winning streak. On a positive note, Zac played beautifully. No errors in the field, a couple of spectacular catches at 3rd base, and closed out a game for the win on the mound. Baseball is a heartless game. No matter if you played perfectly, the team can still lose.

As far as summer goes, it's pretty much been baseball. My mom got to see a bunch of games, got into a fight with some other spectators (which I'll tell you about later-remind me), stay and play with the kids, and just hang out with us for a couple of weeks. The yard FINALLY got mowed Monday, and the pool is looking good again (nods to you, Jan and Lisa). School starts in just 19 days, but we still have some things to do. My aunt and cousin and her son will be here for a few days to do some fun South Louisiana stuff, we have a trip to San Antonio planned for my nephew's first birthday and while we're there, George and I will spend a night down on the Riverwalk for our anniversary.

Time marches on.

Politics is show biz for ugly people...

2009-07-14T20:17:00.006-05:00

I'm sorry folks, but you know I'm very lenient on my ugly scale.

But, for cryin' out loud, this is possibly the ugliest man I've ever seen.

P.S. When I gather my thoughts and photos, I'll update you on the 7-year old LA state tournament...SPOILER ALERT...we won.

I Like to Sleep Late In the Morning

2009-07-13T10:01:00.004-05:00

If you know anything about my family, you know that they DO. NOT. SLEEP. LATE.

I may be the only mother on the planet looking forward to those teenaged years where you have to get a high-rise crane to raise the offspring from bed.

Zac didn't sleep all night until the night before Jake was born. He was 5 1/2 years old. He's one of those annoying people (like my husband) who can go a million miles an hour, work all day and night, stay up until the wee hours of the morning, sleep a couple of hours and hit the ground running again, mostly with a smile.

Jake is my child. If he's tired, he will sleep. In the car, on the couch, in your lap, it doesn't matter.

It's a little after 10:00 in the morning as I write this. We just had a VEEERRRYYY long weekend in Gueydan, LA at the 7-year old state baseball tournament. So far, we've played 4 games. We have our last one this evening against...du du du DU...Kenner. We have to beat them twice because it's a double-elimination tournament. They beat us on Saturday and advanced to the championship game. We had to play an additional game in the loser's bracket in order to have to play them again, twice!

Anyway, Jake has caught every single inning of these 4 games, but one where we were winning something like 19-1 (that's 23 innings for those of you counting). He is whooped. He's got a mad case of heat rash. He is so hungry that he can't get full. He is tired.

Believe it or not, he's looking forward to tonight's games.

We Are the Champions

2009-07-09T10:36:00.005-05:00

Jake's 7 year-old All Star team won the tournament we attended last weekend in Donaldsonville. There were 6 teams in their bracket, one of which was a team from Kenner, LA. Kenner is a "suburb" of New Orleans. I put quotes around suburb because if you've ever been to NO, it's difficult to delineate the community lines; however, folks from there are very quick to correct you if lump their community in with New Orleans. Perhaps it has something to do with the fact that NO had 4 murders on Tuesday alone and they are still the murder capitol of the United States.

Anyway, the reason winning this tournament is significant is because a Zachary team beat a Kenner team. It's no coincidence that Kenner is from the NO area. They are ruthless players and parents. Their coaches verge on mean and their parents are rabid fans...and not in the good way. The kids are just kids, luckily and are very sweet. I guess baseball is the only thing they've got down there. In our experience with Zac playing All Stars, we have come up against Kenner at least 6 times, probably more, and have been absolutely annihilated by them because of their dirty play and pushing the limits of the rule book.

This was a sweet victory.

Jake congratulates the Kenner team after he receives his award.

We still have to play them in state this weekend. I'm sure the Kenner players have been duly reprimanded for their loss to a Zachary team. I'm anxious to see how it comes out.

Thank You

2009-06-23T23:01:00.004-05:00

Everyone who actually left me a comment, thanks. I've been able to fill in a few blank spots on my stat counter.

Okay. Enough of the stat counter drama.

My mom and a distant cousin (I think I figured out that he's my 2nd cousin, twice removed) Cory, are here right now. They got here Sunday night around 8:30. We just hung out and visited. Yesterday, Cory took the boys to play laser tag and to a place called Celebration Station in Baton Rouge. Mom and I went to the grocery store. Today we went to New Orleans and checked out a little bit of the French Quarter. Tomorrow, George, Cory and the boys are going to the lake to do some tubing in the morning.

It has been CRAZY hot here for about 2 weeks. I don't know what's up with that. We've lived here since January 2004. It has NEVER been as hot here as it is here already. Today when we got back to the car from the French Quarter, it was 111 degrees in the parking lot. By the time we got back to Zachary, it had cooled down to 103. I think it will be worse tomorrow. Zac has a scrimmage tomorrow night at 7:00. I should be cooled to 85 or 90 degrees.

On top of it being stupid hot, we can't swim right now. We've had a yellow algae bloom in the pool and are having a tough time killing it. I think one more treatment ought to get it fixed. It'll be a long rest of summer otherwise.

Magical Mystery Tour

2009-06-19T10:32:00.002-05:00

Mystery solved.

Remember a while back when I was freaked out by all the hits on my blog? Well this morning I looked at my stat counter and had 48 hits overnight!! When I looked at the details, about 40 of them were me, all in a row.

Last night I started reading my own blog and reminiscing about the past year. I started this blogging/public journaling thing about a year ago, and read the entire thing. As it turns out, every time I clicked a picture, changed a page, or followed a link, it would hit my stat counter.

Mystery solved. There is not some freak-show out there bent on stalking me and my family.

I Fought the Law

2009-06-11T10:01:00.003-05:00

Thank God for all the hope and change...

Click on the image to enlarge.
**UPDATE: In case you didn't notice, these are all mug shots. See if you can find the common link.**
P.S. I don't know the origin of these photos.

No More Words

2009-06-10T11:39:00.036-05:00

...or at least not too many words.

Here is a picture post of events from Spring Break up 'til now (with captions).

Have baseball gear, will travel.

It was cold, overcast, and drizzly.

Cold, overcast, or drizzly...it's Spring Break. We WILL eat outside on the patio and we WILL swim.

Watching movies, reading, relaxing. Sweet Cousins.

Finally, it warmed up enough to ride Sea Doos and swim and blow bubbles in the water.

A boat ride; relaxing for some, but not everyone.

Bloom where you're planted.

Not what I would've planned for Mother's Day, but good nonetheless. See previous caption.

Team swim party.

Hanging around at home, trying to clean the living room rug after our sweet puppy ruined it.

Zac with his hair cut and braces. He looks older.

Time Marches On.

Words

2009-06-07T07:39:00.002-05:00

With all this talk about my stat counter, it has an interesting feature. I can do a keyword analysis to see what words bring my many readers to Ragsland. Usually, they're the usual, my name or Wheel of Fortune. I figure those are people who can't remember the exact address, but remember those stories and get here that way.

The most recent different one, I think, was probably a surprising answer to their google query: "How to keep from losing your house."

If you've been with me a while, you know how I feel about that.

Sadly, a google search does not give the option of living within your means. Most of the responses to that search I read blamed the housing market, predatory lendors, layoffs, or just the bad economy (which seems to be the catch-all phrase for poor decision making).

It's never just the individual's fault for trying to keep too many balls in the air at once.

Get Together

2009-06-05T23:43:00.003-05:00

C'mon people now...

I wasn't kidding. I neeeeeeeddd you to leave me a comment. See, when you come to my blog, I get a hit on StatCounter. It gives me an IP address (I think that's the web address from whence you came, like your e-mail or internet server {cox, comcast, road runner}). If you leave me a comment, I can compare it to the StatCounter info and name your IP address, therefore learning who all has been here.

I don't really want to name names, but, Wendy and Billy, and Rhonda maybe, I know you were both here and didn't leave me a comment (so I may confirm). The comment doesn't have to be complicated; just a shout-out with your name.

Help a sista out, yo?

1,2,3,4

2009-06-04T09:05:00.002-05:00

Usually sometime every morning, I look up my stat counter for this blog. Yes, indeed, I installed a stat counter to keep up with who all comes to check us out here on the edge. Actually, my very good friend Susanne had to help me install it, but I've kept it going and understand how to use it.

That being said, when I looked at my stats this morning, there were 35 hits! Normally that would thrill me as it would indicate that more than the usual 10 people find The Ragsland interesting, funny, poignant, or compelling; a definite must read for your day! But it freaked me out a little because all 35 new hits were from the same person over the course of 3 minutes. What the heck? Was there a bad internet connection which only allowed 10 seconds at a time? I was flummoxed.

What I want you, yes you, reader, to do is to leave me a comment. Include your name and how you wandered over to The Ragsland. Even if I know you, I need you to help me with this; I don't want to change my address, but I may need to if the lurkers don't come out of hiding.

Thank you. That is all.

Face Down

2009-06-02T21:56:00.010-05:00

Remember this guy? Yeah, the jack ass she threw out? I don't remember if I told you that she finally threw him out. It was wonderful for about 6, maybe 8 weeks. Just her and the girls. She came out and visited, the girls came over to play, sans the WILD little "step-brother" who is always hungry and wants you to feed him.

Well, he was living with his mother somewhere on the west side of THE river and SHE (his mother) THREW HIM OUT!! He came back to M's house looking to just crash on the sofa for a couple of days until he could figure everything else out. You know how the rest of it goes. He was, obviously, irresistible. What, with the belittling, and the verbal abuse, not to mention the physical abuse. What's not to love? So, now he's back...with the crazy little boy.

I tell you all of this to tell you this story...

Tuesday evening while the boys and George were at practice, I went to Wal Mart. I haven't been shopping in WEEKS and the pantry was down to pretty much corn starch and brown sugar. Now, I'm a pretty creative cook, but I need a little more than that.

So anyway, I was at Wal Mart. I had just gotten there and had 2 things in my basket, hairspray and a pack of razors, when my phone rang. It was an operator from ADT Security. (We got an alarm system about 2 1/2 months ago--best money ever spent.) He said that the burglar alarm was going off and did I want him to dispatch the police? I was so surprised that I told him I didn't know, and what do people usually do in this situation? He said, "It's up to you Mrs. Ragsdale," probably choking back a laugh at my idiotic question. I said sure, go ahead. He turned off the alarm, dispatched the police and asked me about how long until I got home. Zachary's a pretty small town, so I was only about 5, maybe 7 minutes from home. I beat the police home.

Now, let me tell you this. Shredder was in the house, so I had the alarm set for "stay" so he wouldn't set off the motion detector. I left the back door unlocked because I wasn't sure if George had his house key. The gate across the driveway was closed and all of the gates around the backyard were closed. When the alarm is set and you come in, there is a 45 second warning beep before ADT is notified and the big alarm goes off.

When I got home, the back door was ajar and every light in the house was on. Luckily, Shredder was still inside. When I leave Shredder in the house, I close all of the doors to the bedrooms and bathroom so we don't get any surprises on the carpet (We've thrown away the living room rug. It was beyond cleaning. It was also over 10 years old, believe it or not.). I wasn't afraid to go in the house because I'd figured out what happened while I was on my way home.

I went around and turned off all the lights and looked around. Everything was fine. Still no police.

I went to the backyard and could hear the backyard neighbors (whom we really like) outside and could see the jackass with them. I opened our back gate (which we put in when we replaced the fence after Hurricane Gustav so the kids could get to the block behind us without going around the block. Perhaps you remember that we live on a pretty busy street?) I was a little more than perturbed when I asked them if they heard the alarm going off. The neighbors (whom we like) both shrunk up like little children in trouble and said they didn't hear anything. The jackass said that Ethan (hell child)went over and knocked on our back door but came back because no one was home. I, of course, went high and to the right and said that the police were on their way because our burglar alarm alerted the ADT people who then dispatched the police.

I, then, waited for the police. When the cruiser finally arrived, I told him that the back neighbor set off the alarm and everything was okay. In the mean-time, hell child came back to jackass to talk to him. My other neighbor (whom I like) asked hell child if he opened our back door. He said yes. It was only then that jackass acknowledged that there was something to say to his boy.

***Aside. The boy was in our house for at least 45 seconds; probably longer. He had enough time to turn on every light in the house!!! Close aside.***

OKAY...Now skip to Tuesday. (I began this post on Monday, immediately after all of this. Tuesday just piles it on. I'm finally pulling it all together on Wednesday.)

George and the boys are at practice. Jackass finds George at the ballpark (because his "step" daughter is playing softball) and tells him that I was incredibly rude to him and he didn't appreciate it. George, being the consummate gentleman and situation smoother, said that his wife does have a temper (he's walking on shaky ground here) and she was scared and nervous that she was called from shopping to attend to a potential burglary call at her home.

George came home from practice to tell me that jackass found him at the ballpark to tell him all of this. His solution is to not invite the (diagonal) back neighbors over and place a lock on our back gate. That's fine with me. My attitude is...if he wants to belittle or abuse a woman, I'm there. I will take him on. I'm taller and bigger than him. I can (will) take him.

George reminded me this morning when I dropped him off at the church, for the first of his several youth trips this summer, not to engage the neighbor. Before you all go crazy; I know, I will not engage this crazy man! I just know that he's a loser, but I'm not afraid.

Octopus's Garden

2009-05-30T17:06:00.015-05:00

I'm calling this an octopus's garden because, I think, this is what one may do to a flower bed under sea. I think, if I remember right, that octopus (octopi?) gather up their things in a "garden" of sorts to nest.

From Wikipedia (the end-all of internet information):
The idea for the song came about when Starr was on a boating trip with his family in Sardinia in 1968. He ordered Fish and Chips for lunch, but instead of fish he got squid (it was the first time he'd eaten squid, and said "It was OK. A bit rubbery. Tasted like chicken.")[citation needed] Then the boat's captain told Starr about how octopuses travel along the sea bed picking up stones and shiny objects with which to build gardens.[1] Starr said that hearing about octopuses spending their days collecting shiny objects at the bottom of the sea was one of the happiest things he had ever heard, inspiring him to write this song.

Who vacations with the family in Sardinia? Where is Sardinia? I digress...obviously, we don't have an octopus, but we do have a 3-month old lab mix. Here are some of his special things and his work in the "garden:"

From this...

To this...

From this...

To this...

Here are some of the "special" things Shredder has collected for his "garden"...

That's a different soda can than the photo before.

I took him to the vet today for his 3rd set of puppy shots. He weighs 23 pounds now.

He's only about 13 weeks old.

As far as our human world is concerned, Zac got braces yesterday. He did great. They only did the top arch; they'll do the bottoms in a couple of months. They haven't bothered him too much, just the usual soreness. I think it makes him look older. BTW, the fauxhawk/mohawk made him too nervous. George trimmed it down to a really close-cut 'do on Saturday night before church. He's all good now.

Get a Haircut

2009-05-29T16:11:00.010-05:00

...and get a real job.

As evidenced by the opening picture, Zac's hair was getting pretty long. Way longer than was allowed at school. As directly quoted from the school handbook:

"Hair must be clean, neat and of a manageable length. Hair at or
below the eyebrows is not allowed. Hair may not be longer than the
collar on the back of male students. Students whose hair is too long
in the opinion of the administration will be notified and given a day
to correct it before being sent to the TOR. Student will remain in the
TOR until hair is cut to an acceptable length. Hair that is braided
must remain braided throughout the school day. Natural hair colors
only! No writing, symbols, or carvings in hair styles, and no “Mohawk”
hair cuts. No facial hair on male students. Male students
may not have ponytails or similar hairstyles. Beads are not allowed
to be worn in hair."

Zac decided that he wanted a fauxhawk for his summer 'do. Naturally, being the push-over, easy-going parents we are, we obliged. Thank goodness hair grows.

George tried to do it himself, but his clippers are pretty old and he couldn't get it all even, but it looked okay.

He caught a little flack at baseball camp for having a not-so-good haircut, so today George took him to Fantastic Sam's to get it fixed.

I haven't seen his forehead in over 3 years. I think he's happy with it. I'm really happy that hair grows.

Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds

2009-05-29T12:41:00.001-05:00

Courtesy of Bruce.

Still gathering my thoughts for the other things...

Cars

2009-05-20T11:53:00.002-05:00

Yesterday afternoon, a classmate of Zac's was hit by a car and was killed while she checked the mail at her grandmother's house.

The boys don't want to check the mail anymore. I understand. We live on a pretty busy street.

I've got some other posts rattling around in my head, be patient.

Jake didn't cry while watching Marley and Me. He didn't cry when we told the boys that Buddy died either.

Three Little Birds

2009-05-08T21:45:00.001-05:00

Marley and Me...

You know it's a good movie when 3/4 of the family cries. I'll let you guess who didn't.

Let's Call the Whole Thing Off

2009-04-29T07:02:00.002-05:00

You say tomato, I say tomahto.

Shredder shouldn't be such a hard name to say, but in the little more than a week that Shredder has been a part of the family, I've called him Zac, Jake, George, Buddy, and Cheddar. Luckily, he responds to all of them if I use my "you're a sweet puppy" voice.

New Kid in Town

2009-04-25T14:59:00.007-05:00

Before we left for vacation over Spring Break, which I'll get to eventually, I had to go to Wal Mart for some last-minute Easter things. You know, the usual candy, Easter dinner and stuff like that. Oh, yeah, I got the boys each a new shirt and shorts.

Anyway, as I was walking out to my car, I saw this dad and his 2 little girls with a crate full of puppies. There was something about them that drew me to them.

I put away my groceries and walked over.

In that crate (I wish I'd taken a picture--I do have an iPhone after all) were about 6 black lab puppies and one yellowish lab puppy.

They were jumping and yelping and climbing all over each other. Just when I was going to make pleasantries with the dad, the yellow one looked up at me, yawned, laid down, and fell asleep.

I told the dad that I would take that one if he would keep it for me until after we got home from vacation. Of course he said sure. He was looking to give away 7 lab puppies!

Monday evening, the 20th, Zac and I went to St. Francisville to pick up our puppy.

Meet Shredder...

I've absolutely NEVER been a crazy dog person, but this pup is the sweetest one ever. He's very laid back, has only had 2 accidents in the house, loves to go with us everywhere, can already play fetch, and hasn't found my shoes yet.

By the way, Jake had naming rights for this one. I'm sure that when he finds my shoes he will live up to his name.

Our House

2009-04-15T00:34:00.018-05:00

As silly as it sounds, there are few things I like more than driving up to my house when the yard is freshly mowed and the flower beds are freshly weeded. It feels good when the outside of our house looks nice. Our house has real curb appeal with the day lilies, azalea bushes and iron gate across the driveway. The back yard is beautiful to me since we lined the beds with the landscaping bricks.

Easter is a strange time for our family. Since George has to get up before the crack on Easter morning to do the sunrise service, the Easter Bunny comes to our house after church. The several days leading up to Easter Sunday are full of George being exhausted getting the service ready, worrying if the kids will show up, worrying if anyone from the congregation will show up, if the sermon will be good enough. Of course, his worry always pays off. It's always good, the attendance grows, the youth who participate grow spiritually and mentally, and those who attend are always left with a meaningful bit of Easter.

This year and last year, in addition to getting the sunrise service ready, George has also had to lead the confirmation retreat for the 6th graders. Tradition has always placed it during spring break, which has been our family's "sacred" time. We give over half of the summer vacation, a week of Christmas break, every weekend, and various Friday nights to the youth group. Now our spring break is being encroached upon. I think next year George will reschedule this retreat so it doesn't take away our potential family vacation. Even if we don't do anything or go anywhere for SB, it is great to know that we have a solid week to be off work and school to just hang out together.

Oh brother. I didn't mean to bore you, internet, with my personal pity party. I tell you all of this on the eve of the boys and me going to pick up George from the retreat to head out to Texas for the last half of SB. Poor, poor, pitiful me. Hey, there's another blog title!

Anyway, here are some pix of Easter and Jake's class party at school.

Oh yeah. Jake found a 4-leafed clover in our yard.

Take Me Out to the Ballgame

2009-04-09T09:04:00.007-05:00

So now begins the evenings spent at the ballpark, the constant washing of uniforms, the rushing from home to ballpark, the ridiculously early or ridiculously late dinners, the way past bedtimes, and the most fun we usually have all year.

Both boys are on the Brewers. Awesome.

In other news...Dixie made it home. It turns out that she lives around the corner from us. Her owners are actually a nice couple who happened to be out of town for a funeral and left their idiot son to take care of her. She's an inside dog and he would come over and let her out during the day because he was obviously too lazy to come over a couple of times a day to take care of her. When George walked Dixie around the block and saw the lady outside and asked if this was her dog, she was elated. Her idiot son had told her that Dixie had been gone for 3 days and was probably dead. The lady was grateful for us taking care of her and was glad to have her back.

Here are some pictures of the boys during the Palm Sunday processional at church.

The Bitch is Back

2009-04-03T10:22:00.005-05:00

Well, as far as song titles for my posts lately, I never expected to use that one!

Dixie came back to us last night. George and I were out on a last-minute date that I'll tell you about in a minute, when I got a phone call from Jake. I had to hang up on him because I couldn't understand him and I needed to walk out of the auditorium to call him back (on the babysitter's cell).

I called back. No answer.
I called Zac's phone. No answer.
I called the house. No answer.

Rinse. Repeat.
Rinse. Repeat.

One last try to babysitter. Finally a pick up. (It's a good thing too--I was about to go back in the auditorium to get George and head home!)

Rachel, the sitter, put Zac on the phone. He said they were in the front yard playing baseball when Dixie trotted up to them and started playing. He wanted to know what they should do. I told them to just take her inside and take care of her. By this time it was already almost 7:30 and I didn't want them walking the neighborhood looking for the owner...again. I also told him not to call me unless someone was bleeding from their ears.

So, she stayed the night with us last night and I'll take her home this afternoon when I get home from work.

I'm figuring the redneck who owns Dixie isn't as nice to her as we are and she made a fast escape to come back to the Life of Riley.

The other day when I found the owner, I was walking at the other end of our street asking people if they knew this dog. I saw some guys working on some cars at one house. They had a male black lab who was a little bigger than Dixie and also had a neon orange collar. Just as I was about to talk to them, these two guys pulled up in their pick up hollering that she was their dog. The one guy jumped out of the truck and ran over to her calling Dixie. She turned to him, and acknowledged him, but didn't react really until he got his lead out. This lead was HUGE. It was like a 1-inch diameter lassoo. He slipped it around her neck, she barked, I unhooked my leash, he shook hands WITH THE GUYS WORKING ON THE CAR...NOT THE PERSON WHO FOUND HIS DOG, and jumped in the truck with her. I told him how good she was and how much fun the boys had playing with her and that if I hadn't found him I was keeping her. He said, "Well, I paid too damn much money for this dog for her to go missing." Okay, jackass, put a microchip in her back or, at the very least, an ID tag!!!

Oh well, the world is so very full of jackasses.

Now on to our date...

One of the parents of a youth kid at church is the general manager of the Coca-Cola plant here in Baton Rouge. He had tickets to see Jerry Seinfeld last night and couldn't make it, so he passed the tickets on to us!!!!!!!!

The seats were great, although, in this particular theater there are no bad seats. We were very close, but didn't have to crane our necks up to watch and listen.

There was a warm-up comedian whose name I can't remember. I may have been able to tell you more about him, but this is when the kids were dealing with the dog and I was in the hallway of the auditorium. He did his bit for about 20 minutes and then Jerry came on.

The picture doesn't really reflect just how close we were to the stage. I'm not complaining, though. I took the picture WITH MY IPHONE!!! (WooHoo, I have an iPhone.)

He was hilarious! At one point I was laughing so hard I was crying. There was one stupid-head somewhere behind us who yelled out "Kramer" a couple of times to the point that Jerry had to stop and make a distinction about how Kramer, Elaine, George, and Newman, while interesting characters and personalities, are, actually, infact, fictional! That when you yell at Jerry on the TV, he doesn't respond, as opposed to tonight.

That shut him up.

He spoke for about an hour. He had another show at 9:30. It was really great.

From the concert, we went to one of our favorite places in Baton Rouge, the Kingfish Lounge in the Hilton Capitol House. We had a beverage and some appetizers (spring rolls and smoked salmon).

It was an excellent evening.

We packed in all that fun and were home by 10:00. I don't think it gets any better than that.

Pretty Visitors

2009-04-01T17:56:00.008-05:00

The close-out to March has been terrific.

Jake's choir at church sang a couple of weeks ago. That's him on the back row, all the way 2nd from the left, in the red shirt.

Our town had a fair.

George went to Aspen with Bruce (again).
I got a haircut.
I forgot to record a deposit in my checkbook, so when my statement came in to balance, I had extra money!

And we had another visitor. Turns out her name is Dixie. Had I not found the owner, I was totally keeping this dog! She was VERRRRYYY sweet.

We got some new furniture for the bedroom and dining room. You'll have to come visit to see it.

And we have a luna moth on the front porch light. Luna moths are so beautiful, they almost don't look real.

I Get Around

2009-03-25T17:05:00.002-05:00

Well, at least HE gets around...

I happen to find Barney Frank particularly disgusting for a variety of reasons; but for him to be as infantile and immature as in this interview, is really behavior beneath one Massachusetts elected to represent them in the Congress. Why isn't anyone outraged by this statement? Where is the demand for an apology?

Birthday

2009-03-12T23:02:00.009-05:00

You say it's your birthday
Well it's my birthday too, yeah.

Today's not my birthday; it was the 11th.

I think it may go down as one of the best ever. I used to tease my mom and Aunt Rhonda when they would say that life gets better after 35 or 40 or so. I would tell them that they were just jealous that they weren't young anymore. I have to officially retract that sentiment. I turned 40 a couple of years ago and, had I known it was going to be so great, I might have done it sooner.

My birthday always begins with my mostly annual trip to my grandparents' house. Usually it's at their lake house, but a couple of times it's been in San Antonio. The important thing is being there. I've made this trip almost every year of my life that I can remember. There have only been a couple I've missed because we were living in El Paso or Albuquerque at the time and couldn't get there.

This birthday weekend at my grandparents' is not just for me. My mom, my Aunt Jan, cousin Rachael, formerly great "Aunt" Onnie, and now brother-in-law Travis all share a March birthday. It's such a wonderful excuse to get the family together. Although, not much of an excuse is ever really needed. My friends here at home often wonder why I go to San Antonio so much. I guess it's unusual for most people to get together with their families and really enjoy it.

We never actually do much. The kids play (at one time I was a kid who played), we have a huge dinner, eat cake, discuss politics and change the world from the kitchen table (if only Washington would take heed).

We've had as many as 30 there for the weekend, and as few as 10, but it's still a standing appointment on my calendar. I think it will always be.

Here are a few pictures. The battery on my camera was dying, so I only got a couple.

Jake and Owen.

Jake was my road trip partner for this trip. Zac wanted to stay home so he wouldn't miss any baseball practices. Jake and Mitchell played together all weekend. It was fantastic! I'm so grateful for how much they love each other and are so well suited to each other. One thing, though. Jake realizes now that he must eat salad or some type of fruit or vegetable at least once a day. He was sicker than a dog on Saturday night from too much junk! He's a believer in fiber, at least for now.

The birthday girls.

Our combined ages this year are 173. I won't tell you how old everyone else is, but I'm 42. I'm actually okay with that. Like I said, it really does get better.

Here are some pictures of some of the things I got for my birthday.

Flowers from my very good friend, Tammy.

A cool glass pitcher from my very good mom.

Some candies and neat candles from my very good friend, Susanne.

One of the reasons this birthday has been one of the best ever, is because those last 3 photos were taken with the camera on the gift my sweet husband George got me.

I seriously need an intervention. The iPhone is spectacular.

Again. One of the best birthdays ever.

Mardi Gras Mambo

2009-03-02T18:18:00.005-06:00

Internet, the last several days have been very busy. I think I'll approach this post in bullet form:

*Feb. 21-Spanish Town Mardi Gras parade. **Side Bar**Jake was feeling better from the flu; in fact, I should've sent him to school on Friday.**Close Side Bar**
Naturally, I forgot my camera. Suffice it to say that the boys and I had a great time. The theme for the parade this year was Bayou Bailout. For a parade that has no regard for political correctness, the theme was rich. Check out these photos for some insight to the Spanish Town parade. Please look at a bunch of the photos.

*Feb. 22-Slept in instead of going to church. At this time, I can't remember what we did! I do know that we waited with baited breath for the arrival of George after his trip to Aspen with Bruce.

*Feb. 23-Kids out of school for the Mardi Gras Holiday. Isn't south Louisiana the best? We didn't do much. George had to work, so the kids and I hung out at home. I think I cooked dinner...

*Feb. 24-Kids out of school and George off work. We went to Clark Creek National Park in Pond, MS for a hike (toward the end it may have been known as a forced march). It was a really great day. I wouldn't tell the kids what we were doing for the several days leading up to this fun family day because I didn't want to hear all of the complaining about going hiking. It was a really good day. We saw some beautiful waterfalls and enjoyed the outdoors.

We ate a late lunch at Sammy's in Zachary and called it a day. When we asked the kids if they had fun, they said it was great and they're looking forward to doing it again. By the way, the hike (forced march) was about 3 miles of steep up and down hills.

*Feb. 25-Kids back at school. The usual stuff.

*Feb. 26-SOS, but I went to Pokeno at the neighbor's house. That's a really strange bunch...maybe I'll tell you about it sometime!

*Feb. 27-George and I did the responsible thing and got a medical physical for life insurance. That's hot. Oh, yeah, baseball try-outs started Friday night.

*Feb. 28-More baseball try-outs. George is head coaching his 7-8 y.o. team, coordinating that league and assistant coaching for Zac's 11-12 y.o. team. What that means for me??? The next several nights alone at my favorite place: HOME. That's what I'm doing tonight. It's the first practice for both teams. Am I using my time wisely? Doing laundry? Washing dishes? Cleaning bathrooms? No...I'm updating my blog. whatever.

*Mar. 1-Church.

*Mar. 2-TODAY!!
It's been a good day. I got a lot done at work. Not so much at home, but I'm here alone, doing whatever I want.

Life is good.

Rockin' Pneumonia and the Boogie Woogie Flu

2009-02-20T15:43:00.003-06:00

So Jake has been home since Wednesday with the flu. I took him to the doctor, they swabbed his nose and confirmed the diagnosis. We started him on Tami flu and he was on the road to wellness by Wednesday night.

I let him stay home again today just to make completely sure. We had a couple of errands to run (pick up paltry paycheck, bank, grocery store) so we were out driving around.

I'm not sure what started the conversation, but this is how it ended:

Jake: Mom, are we going to get that ash mark on our forehead?

Me: Sure, we can go to the Ash Wednesday service at church next week if you'd like.

Jake: Why do we get that mark?

Me: Well, it's like a promise to God and Jesus that we remember the great sacrifice of Jesus dying on the cross at Easter time. And the ashes on the forehead show everyone we contact that we believe in Jesus.

Jake: So...does that mean we're Entrepreneurs?

Revolution

2009-02-19T11:52:00.003-06:00

Check out this video from CNBC this morning.

I "hope" the spark on the powder keg is starting.

**edit**
I changed the link to the video...hopefully it works.

I Write Sins, Not Tragedies

2009-02-14T18:49:00.005-06:00

Happy Valentine's Day.

We had a great day.

George was up early to get to the Zachary Baptist church to open up for the baseball sign-ups. The last couple of years the baseball board has been making it a little more convenient for the citizens of Zachary by locating base ball sign up areas where the people may actually be located. The Baptist church hosts about a million of the local children in Upward Basketball,so it was very helpful to about 90% of the population of the town.

Jake played at 11:00 today. His team's not that great, but Jake plays really hard.

View the evidence:

Don't hate me if you have to take a Dramamine after these photos!

After the game, we went to Academy to get the kids new tennis shoes, then to bowling.

What a blast. Bowling has been the thing Jake has wanted to do since forever. I'm glad we finally went. George and Zac tied the first game; Jake and I came in a distant 3rd and 4th (I think I came in 4th). Then George won the other 2 games. It was a good time. George always wins...

Long ago, when we were dating, I beat him at miniature golf...I kept the score card; but I think George threw it away in embarrassment.

You Made Me Love You

2009-02-07T12:25:00.005-06:00

...I didn't wanna do it.

Yesterday started out just like every other day.

Up around 6:15, breakfast, got everyone to school and work, came home, let Buddy in, did some laundry, Zac got home, then we went to pick up Jake at school.

We headed out to get Jake and decided that since it was a nice day, we'd leave Buddy outside while we were gone. Once we got Jake, we went in to Baton Rouge to help decorate for the Youth Mardi Gras ball. I guess we got home around 8:30 or 9:00.

The back gate was open, which was not unusual. Buddy usually gets bored and climbs the gate and opens it and goes for a run in the pasture across the street. He loves barking at and chasing the cows. He always comes back.

This time he didn't.

I got a call this morning about 7:30 from a guy who found him on the side of the road about 5 miles away from our house. Last time I took Buddy for his shots, I scratched his name and my phone number on the back of his rabies tag, knowing we'd be getting this call one day.

George went and picked up his body and we buried him in the back yard.

By this time, the kids were up and we told them. They're okay. They're already talking about what kind of dog to get next time, but I know they're sad.

Dadgum, that dog. He made me love him, even if I didn't want to.

RIP, Buddy.

I'm Winning

2009-02-07T10:00:00.001-06:00

...but you may try too.

My brother-in-law has a give away on his blog.

Check it out here.

Cat's In the Cradle

2009-01-25T20:55:00.002-06:00

In today's Sunday school class, Jake's class talked about what they wanted to be when they grew up. Can you guess what he'd like to be?

.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
If you guessed Youth Minister, you're correct.

I wonder if it's the shorts and t-shirts, the trips, the work with kids, the on-call work, the nutso (sometimes) parents, or the 20-year-overnight-sensation of a job well-done.

Or maybe he just has a sweet heart and admires his dad.

99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall

2009-01-22T20:26:00.004-06:00

Now that we've practiced counting to ten...

WHAT DOES THIS MEAN???????????

I always thought it meant that if you had 10 items or less, you may proceed through the line. Obviously, I was wrong tonight.

I, blissfully, got in the ten items line. I had 2 boxes of Kleenex, 2 packages of toilet paper, 1-12 pack of Caffeine Free Diet Coke, and 1-750 ml of Myers's Rum. Let's count, together, how many items that is: 2, 4, 5, 6.

The two ladies in front of me had WWWWWAAAAAYYYYY more than 10 items. In fact, the first lady wound up with 3 completely full, large bags of clothes; one piece she wound up having to go back into the clothing area to get another so the original could be scanned. The second lady had a complete basket-full of groceries. $146.38 to be exact. AND, knowing full well that she had more than 10 items, she picked up 2 bags of chips and a Sprite from the fridge!

You might ask why I didn't move lanes. You know darn well as I, that if I moved lanes, I'd get stuck and my original lane would've wound up moving along. So I just stayed there. By the time I checked out, there were at least 5 people stacked up behind me...with less than 10 items each.

Whatever. Just one more reason why I HATE Wal Mart. You know, I'm all for saving money. I'm all for a corporation making money. It's not that. Why, oh why, do they have express lanes?

Ride a painted pony

2009-01-22T13:03:00.007-06:00

...Let the spinning wheel spin.

What a great day I've had.

Up, promptly at 6:00, started the coffee, showered (even shaved my legs), woke Zac and finished getting dressed. I wore my new black pants with my hot pink collared shirt. My make up was great, as was my hair, I might add.

I took Zac to school. We were on time. Then I headed in to Baton Rouge for the auditions.

I arrived at the Sheraton around 8:00 and valet parked. I didn't want to fool with trying to find a parking spot on a work-week downtown. I met my new best friend, Sherrie, in the restaurant at the Sheraton about 8:05. We had coffee and breakfast. I had a delicious omelet with fruit; Sherrie had the buffet with eggs, bacon, grits, and biscuits. We got caught up and walked over to the ballroom where the auditions were being held.

There were about 50 people there. I recognized some. Our friend, Carla, was not there. Some of the people I didn't think would get chosen were there too. But for the most part, all of the truly engaging people were called back.

We filed in and sat in the chairs they had for us and began filling out the contestant application. The producers and scouts (I guess that's who they were) started giving instructions on completing the ap: if you're in the military, a teacher, a pet lover, or here with your friend, add those things in the margins of the ap. One producer had everyone go one-by-one and say their name loudly so she could fill in her seating chart and get name pronunciations. When that was finished, the other 2 producers let everyone know that they're looking for enthusiasm, loud voices, and logical letter calling. They reminded us of the importance of buying vowels, and showed us how they would run the game. They randomly called names off the seating chart.

First name called: Jana.

I jumped up with a "woo-hoo!" and the producer spun the wheel. I called a letter and directed her to spin again. I called another letter, and spun again, called another letter and bought a vowel, then spun again. The final spin landed on lose a turn and my turn was finished.

That's pretty much how it went for everyone in the room. You could really tell who was excited and interesting and who they wanted to see again. The real trick was to buy a vowel so your exposure time would be a little longer. After everyone had a turn we played again, only select players were called.

They called me after about the 3rd or 4th player. The puzzle on the board was "Show Biz." When the puzzle got to me it showed: J_W-D_ _ _ _I_G _ _ _ I_ _ _ _ _ _ _. I called an 'N' and bought an 'A,' then asked to solve the puzzle: JAW-DROPPING ACTION SCENE.

It was awesome. We were all clapping for each other and cheering each other on. The producer gave me a tote bag and I sat down. Sherrie got called a few minutes later. Honestly, I can't remember exactly how she did, but she did well.

When they got a look at everyone they needed again, they passed out a test. It was a page full of hang-man-type of puzzles with some of the letters filled in. We had 5 minutes to complete as much as we could. Five minutes flew by in a flash and they took them up to grade them. We were dismissed for a bathroom/water break. While they were out with our tests, they played clips from old Wheel of Fortune shows with funny contestants knocking down Pat or picking him up or saying crazy things. It was funny. We got to see Vanna's audition tape and a taped message from Pat and Vanna congratulating us on how far we'd come.

When they came back in, they let us know that while they're looking for great game players, etc., etc., the cut-off point is at the puzzle test. They congratulated us for making it this far and encouraged us to continue watching Wheel, then began calling the last 10 people they wanted to see again.

Alas, Sherrie was called, but not me.

Everyone else was dismissed. I went over to George's office and we went out to lunch. I wasn't hungry since I'd just had that huge omelet, but George had a hamburger.

It was a great day, even if I didn't get chosen. I figure that for me to make it to the final 20 or so out of a pool of approximately 2000 over the 2-day initial open auditions was very special.

WHEEL!!!!!!!!!!!

2009-01-12T18:35:00.003-06:00

It's been a while since we last spoke. All is well. I'll catch you up soon.

In the mean-time...

I GOT A FOLLOW-UP AUDITION TO WHEEL OF FORTUNE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A public service question...

2008-12-29T13:15:00.002-06:00

Because I serve my public.

Tell me if you HATE the google-ad thing that comes up first on my blog. I'm just trying it out to see what happens. Apparently, I can earn $$ by allowing google ads on my stuff. If it's too annoying, I think I'll pull it off.

And the award for mother-of-the-year goes to...

2008-12-28T23:26:00.009-06:00

Me, of course.

If it wasn't enough that we've just had Christmas and family time like crazy, Jake talked to his friend, S, on Christmas day and invited him to spend the night Friday night.

We were going to take Zac's friend, K, out to dinner with our family so he could give her his Christmas gift, but she had to go out of town with her grandmother. Since the girlfriend plans were cancelled, and Jake was having S over, Zac asked if S's brother K could come stay with him. I, still being drunk on egg nog, apparently, added S and K's brother J to the mix. I didn't think it would be very nice to invite their #1 and #3 boys without having #2 also. All the boys are good friends anyway, and S, K, and J are SUPER GOOD boys, so it wasn't any trouble.

The boys' mom and dad went in to Baton Rouge to look at some furniture and dropped the boys off on the way. We had a great night. Everyone played outside until way past dark, played the Wii, played on the computer, and ate hot dogs and gingerbread house. The little boys slept in the living room on sleeping bags and the big boys slept in the bedroom. I finally fell completely asleep around 1:00 am and could still hear Zac and K giggling.

We had pancakes for breakfast, then everyone loaded up the rip sticks, skate boards, roller blades, and scooters to spend a couple of hours at the skate park.

Jackie came to pick up the boys from the skate park around noon. We came home and had lunch and did some house work and nap. Zac left later that evening to spend the night with another friend.

Unfortunately, the voting academy will not remember this award and the hard work it has taken to get here. They will only remember the demands for baths, tooth-brushing, room-cleaning, homework-doing and all the other things it takes to get to be mother-of-the-year. I'll bask in it for these few fleeting moments.

It was a beautiful day, incidentally. About 78 degrees.

The boys were wiped out. Zac slept for about an hour and Jake almost got another night's sleep with his 3-hour nap!

P.S. They (we) love their snuggies. We're cheesy like that! Maybe I'll remember to bring them to football games for extra warmth! Like that, Billy?

Having a Wonderful Christmas Time

2008-12-26T09:29:00.019-06:00

That would be the reason for the lack of posts lately.

By the way, I hate that song I used as my post title. It's one of those tunes that, at first, seems happy and benign, but then wraps itself completely around your brain and chokes it to death, much in the same way a wisteria plant can kill a 100-year old oak tree.

The festivities always begin, for me, with Thanksgiving. I've already told you that this year's Thanksgiving was the best ever. Part of the reason for that was the planning the girls in my family did for our annual trip to Salado, which we ditched, incidentally, for something much, much better. Usually, we go to Salado, in central Texas, north of Austin, for shopping, visiting, dinner at neat restaurants, crazy gift exchanges, game playing, movie watching, Christmas card addressing, shopping and more visiting, always with a few adult beverages mixed in for good measure and extra good visiting.

We wound up going to my aunt's lake house in Marble Falls instead. We did sneak in a little side trip on Thursday to Salado. It was really sad. The stores had hardly anything in them, there were only a few people, the great Mansion restaurant was closed up, and worst of all, the candy store was gone!!!!! They had the coolest candy store, called Sweet Nut Things, with all kinds of old-fashioned and interesting candies like candy cigarettes, bubble gum that looks like pebbles, gummy rats, individually colored m&ms, and lots of neat little toys and doo dads. I think that was the saddest of all for me, that the candy store was gone. We decided we would not go back.

In order to completely change the weekend so as to not compare to Salado, we did some completely different things.The weekend at the lake was almost like a dream. We had snacks, beverages, movies, a gift exchange, a hot tub, lake scenery, MASSAGES, manicures, dinner. Friday night was the official kick-off dinner at a restaurant in MF, Russo's. It was fantastic, I had the pepper-crusted salmon, which was a special of the day. After dinner we went back to the house, not to leave again until Sunday! Long story short, the massage was spectacular, the food/snacks/beverages prodigious, and most-importantly, the company beyond compare. You know, I have lots of girlfriends, but none, anymore, who I'd like to spend the entire weekend with except the girls in my family. Alas, I forgot my camera, so there is no photographic evidence of the revelry! However, Jake did lose his first tooth on Wednesday night after I'd left.

When I left the lake on Sunday, I brought my mom home with me. We had a great trip home. We listened to talk radio and the 70's channel on XM. When we got home, the Christmas lights were decorating the yard and George and the boys had cleaned up the joint. All of the laundry was done--not folded and put away--but done. They'd worked hard for me while I was relaxing all weekend.

George and I, both, worked Monday and Tuesday, so Mom stayed with the kids. We ramped it up into high gear getting ready for Christmas. Mom kept the kids Monday night so George and I could get some shopping done. We were going to get a bunch done on the 11th, but if you've been reading lately, that was Sneaux Day. We got everything finished that night.

The next couple of days were pretty low key. We went grocery shopping Tuesday, went to Christmas Eve services at church Wednesday, had lunch at Piccadilly after church, the boys worked on a gingerbread house kit (well, mostly Jake; Zac got in the picture just to irritate Jake), sent George back to church for the 5:00 service (he had to help serve Communion), and prepared our traditional Christmas Eve buffet.

The buffet came about several years ago, even before Jake was born, I think. We lived in Longview at the time and my mom was with us for Christmas. I was going to fix something nice for Christmas Eve dinner and asked Zac what we should have. He said, "Just make me a buffet of everything that I like." Zac has always been a good eater, so that was a tall order. I pared it down to appetizers: cocktail weenies, chips and salsa, guacamole, tamales, taquitos, veggies and dip, and cheese and crackers. Pair that with sparkling cider for the boys and wine for the adults, and you've got yourself a traditional Christmas Eve feast.

The rest of the night was the usual. The boys went to bed around 9:00, Mom went to bed around 10:00, George and I stayed up all night wrapping presents. At one point, both Zac and Jake wandered into the living room for water. Luckily, Santa hadn't come yet, so nothing was spoiled. When we finally went to bed, we took Zac with us. He was having a hard time sleeping. He tossed and turned and cried all night. He was so anxious that he couldn't sleep and was afraid he would ruin Christmas for Jake because Santa wouldn't come until he fell asleep. All was saved when he finally fell asleep around 3:30! Nice. Three and a half hours of restful sleep. Everyone was up about 7:00.

The rest of the day went as usual. The boys played with the Wii Santa brought, tried on almost all the new clothes they got, and cracked open the new art supplies. George made a delicious lunch of stacked green chile chicken enchiladas-New Mexico style. I took a nap.

Here is a quick picture wrap-up:

Santa calls the boys on Christmas Eve. Yes, Zac believes. As long as you believe, Santa still brings you gifts.

We had been threatening coal for some time with this one.

Zac finally got some American Eagle clothes. We got him that. Santa was NOT taking this credit!

Jake is quite an artist and loves all kinds of art supplies. He also loves his new Old Navy clothes. Santa didn't get to take that credit either.

Bert-n-Ernie In Da Hood

2008-12-17T12:48:00.002-06:00

A dinner-time prayer

2008-12-16T11:23:00.004-06:00

This was the actual prayer given by Jacob before dinner last night.

God is great,
God is good,
Let us thank Him for our food.

By our hands,
We are fed,
Give us Lord our daily bread.

Thank you, Jesus, for Christmas.
And thank you for Santa.
I love Santa.
Good night, Santa.

Amen.

Let It Snow!!!!!!!!!!!

2008-12-11T19:15:00.020-06:00

How 'bout that?

How many times have you gone to bed with the weather man saying that there may be snow overnight and you make big plans to sleep in, play in the snow, watch TV, and drink hot chocolate only to be disappointed with a cold rain?

Not so here in south Louisiana!!! Mother Nature must've allowed the Snow Miser to have some fun for the day down here. I'm not sure where the Heat Miser was today.

This is what we woke up to this morning.

After breakfast, we got dressed to go outside and play since snow doesn't last very long down here. The forecast was already changing the snow to sleet, then freezing rain, then rain. Our window was short, but we optimized all of the time!

Snow Angels, of course.

Zac and Jake with the girls next door.

Just general playing.

I leave you with a few pictures that I think are pretty.
Add Imageplay:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_9dVoqy0m7is/SUHBYCoizvI/AAAAAAAAAS0/_0s7LWp5LxA/s320/Snow+Day,+Dec.+11,+2008+004.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5278712857022877426" />

Snow, Maybe

2008-12-10T20:45:00.002-06:00

There's a good chance that it may snow or ice over tonight.

The children are nestled all snug in their beds, while hopes of a snow day dance in their heads.

I'll let you know.

Naughty or Nice??

2008-12-09T07:17:00.001-06:00

Check out this site to see which list you're on:

http://www.santas.net/goodandbadlist.htm

Update

2008-12-07T19:54:00.002-06:00

The mom came to pick up the kids right when I finished the last post. We left for church right away...and made it there on time.

Then there was a message on my cell phone apologizing for the kids staying there. She didn't realize that I didn't know they were going to their storage to pick up a sofa.

I think she felt bad for not talking to me personally.

Now I feel bad that I got into a wad over it...Knowing what I know about her boyfriend, I'm a little afraid of how everything will hash out. He's a jackass and will probably treat her badly.

What in the world am I supposed to do?

2008-12-07T15:46:00.003-06:00

The kids were at the back door neighbor's house playing (yes, that one) when Zac called to see if it was okay if they all came over to play here. I said sure. What I didn't know was that I was baby sitting.

They have two girls (hers) and a boy (HIS). The girls are really sweet, but that boy totally makes me appreciate my two boys. I don't really think he fully computes when you speak to him.

At any rate, the mom and dad went to Home Depot, I think. I'm supposed to leave at 4:00 for church and they're not home yet!

They've been here about an hour and a half and have eaten all of my bread. I made PB&J because everyone was hungry (the boy demanded something to eat). Oh yeah, the dog, Ginger, is also in my back yard (Buddy is in his kennel in my room) because she kept getting out of their yard. She was going out of her mind with the kids over here playing.

Another day in paradise. Four minutes and counting.

**EDIT**Oh, one more thing. Neither parent is answering their phone.

The Ragsland Exchange

2008-12-07T12:29:00.002-06:00

When the kids and I got home from church, they turned to YouTube to settle an argument about a song they were singing. It's a song called "Whatever You Like," by T.I. It's some dumb rap/hip-hop song they like. They settled their disagreement, then started looking up other videos--Red Hot Chili Peppers, Puddle of Mudd, Jimi Hendrix, Fall Out Boy, The Jonas Brothers--then went back to one of their standards "Tell 'Em-Crank That Soulja Boy," by, who else, but Soulja Boy. Zac was doing the dance and Jake was telling him not to. Then Jake got up to go get his jacket to play outside.

Me: He can dance if he wants to.

Jake: Yeah, but he doesn't look right.

Me: Y'all were doing so good with the videos until you started with the rap. Why do y'all like that music anyway?

Jake: Because you hate it.

Out of the mouth of babes.

Just one more reason I'm glad my mom is spending Christmas with us

2008-12-05T20:51:00.003-06:00

I turned on the heater tonight. We have a sort of Mexican stand-off with the heater around here. I always lose since I live with the human heater. We don't usually turn on the heater until my mom comes for Christmas, but I was so cold tonight and couldn't warm up...I turned on the heater...just to cut the chill. George is not home; don't tell him. It's just plain cold!

I don't even know how to title this

2008-12-04T13:34:00.003-06:00

I don't care who you think you are, but the man IS the PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES for cryin' out loud!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Put on your government-issued big girl panties, stand with him and be nice!!!!!!!!! .

Stupid, Stupid, Stupid.

Watch this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SybaqYOwzxc&eurl=http://wjbo.com/pages/mattkennedy1.html

You probably have to cut and paste the link into your address bar.

We're Here to Pump...You Up!

2008-12-03T16:08:00.006-06:00

UpdatePalooza

2008-11-23T06:46:00.016-06:00

Since we last spoke, Internet, we've had a lot going on. Lessee, where to begin...

The day after Zac's cross-country meet, George had some surgery on his leg. He had a laser ablation and phlebectomy. Those links only really show pictures of the procedure. I got to watch! Woo Hoo! George didn't mind that I was in there (neither did the doctor). I reminded George that he got to be in on both of my c-sections. George said that he HAD to be there; he had a very important job to do (cutting the cord). Well, in the middle of the laser ablation, the doctor turned to me and asked me to turn up the power on the laser. Good thing I was there.

It really was cool watching. They used these tiny, bent crochet needles to pull out the lower veins. It wasn't bloody or gross. What was funny, though, was about mid-way through, they had to use more anesthetic on the lower leg, after they had already poked a bunch of holes to pull out the vein, and the anesthetic started shooting out of the holes like a fountain.

Anyway, that all went off without a hitch and they were able to do more than they thought.

The kids rode the bus home with their friends. I wasn't so worried about Jake making it to the bus since the teachers make sure the kids get where they're supposed to be, but Zac was different; they just dismiss the kids and they get to their bus. Well, Zac's friend rides bus 30-something, but it's been out of service for about a month, so they've been on a substitute bus. Naturally, when Zac went out to get on with his friend, who is in 8th grade, so they don't see each other when school lets out the regular bus was back and Zac couldn't find it. I got a call from a FRANTIC boy around 2:35. George's procedure had just completed and we were still in Baton Rouge. I called my friend, Tammy, to see if she could go get him, but she was at the gym and didn't have her phone with her. Her father-in-law was at her house, but he was just leaving for a doctor's appointment. I called my co-worker, April, and asked her to close up the office, go get Zac, and take him out to Tammy's house. Of course she did, but while April was on her way, Tammy got the message off her phone, and from her father-in-law and met April at the school to get Zac. April went back to work and Tammy made it home with Zac. He was devastated; he thought he was in trouble for missing the bus. We had to talk him down a bit (I don't know where he gets it), but all was well.

Since the kids were taken care of for a little while, and George and I were in BR, we went down to this industrial supply place to pick up a 55-gallon barrel for the trash can dinner we were doing with our friends on Saturday.

**Side Bar** The trash can dinner was planned right after George scheduled his surgery. The doctor's office said he could resume normal activities the next day after the procedure, so we took it literally. **Close Side Bar**

We got out to Tammy's to pick up the kids and visited for a little bit, then went home. Luckily, Tammy gave us a gallon of gumbo to have for dinner, because right when we drove up, the people who were buying George's jeep pulled up in our drive way. They weren't supposed to be there until Friday, so we didn't have any paper work or anything ready yet. I put the gumbo on to warm up and got to work on the bill of sale. After all of that was finished, we finally sat down to eat at 8:00! I was grateful for the gumbo, otherwise we would've had PB&J for dinner.

I'd like to say that we took it easy on Friday so George could recover a little, but he had some stuff to do at work, so I drove him down there to do that. Then we went to Academy to see about some athletic pants for him to be able to wear more easily than jeans while he has to wear the compression stocking on his leg and also to get some new uniform pants for Jake. There were no pants for Jake, but George got a couple of pair. We had lunch at a seafood place in BR which was pretty good, except the cocktail sauce was too vinegary. I had to work that afternoon, so I dropped George at home so he could relax a little. But only a little.

Okay...I'm back to this and it's now Dec. 2.

Here are the pictures from the trash can dinner.

Resting...but only for a minute.

Who woulda thought eating out of a trash can could be so good???

It was a blast. We got to Chris and Tammy's house around 3:00 and stayed until around 10:00 that night. The food was great and the company was even better!

Next was Thanksgiving. I think it was the best ever. As usual the food was great. My family did not enjoy the chocolate green chile pecan pie, though. I take that back; my cousin Rhett, who just graduated from culinary school, liked it. I'll post some pictures of Thanksgiving at the end.

The best part of that long weekend was all the visiting, planning and fun we all had. Naturally, I'm really only speaking for myself and my family, but it really seemed like everyone had a great time. My brother, his wife, and their brand new not-so-little boy stayed until Friday, as did my sister, her husband, and their not-so-brand-new little boy.

I realized that my grandpa turned 88 this year. I really thought he was only 84 or so. Both ages are really old, but 88 is dangerously close to 90. I'm so grateful for every day that I have with my grandpa. He is THE SWEETEST MAN ON THE PLANET. That is no exaggeration.

When we left the lake from Thanksgiving, we went over to George's brother's house in Kyle. His nephew is a football coach in Mason and their team played in a playoff game Friday night in Kyle. They lost the game, unfortunately. Luckily, his wife is no longer a football widow. I guess they'll gear up for baseball now, but I don't think the practice schedule is quite as intense. It was good to see most of that side of our family. Zac and Jake had an absolute blast playing with their cousins. Actually, I think they're all 2nd cousins. George's nieces and nephews are almost as old as he is, so all of their kids are the same age as ours.

Things have settled back into a routine around here. I've got TONS of laundry to get folded and put away and the house to get cleaned up. I'd like to put up our Christmas decorations this weekend. I'm not doing anything until this house is clean.

Pictures from Thanksgiving:

The newest additions to the family. We seem to grow exponentially each year!

Someone's always got an opinion about something.

Always more than we can eat...and these are just the LEFTOVERS!!

I was tagged

2008-11-13T07:55:00.004-06:00

My sister tagged me and I've been agonizing over it since. It seems like a few funny things have happened lately, but my mind's been consumed with thinking about 7 things about myself. It is all about me, after all.

Zac ran in the Metro Meet yesterday. It's the final cross-country meet of the season. The middle school boys and girls all ran together. It was cool, wet and a little drizzly. In the high school girls' race before Zac's, there were lots of girls coming in without shoes and a couple had lost their socks too. Zac made it in with both of his shoes and socks with a time of 15:45. He did great. I maintain that no matter what his time was, he still ran 2 miles yesterday. What the hell did you or I do? (Bruce may not answer this question. No one wants to hear about eating twigs for breakfast, running the stands at the football stadium, lifting low weights with a ridiculous amount of reps, then running an hour on the treadmill, all before you head out to work! Just kidding, Bruce.)

So with all of this preoccupation thinking about myself, jotting down a note when something about me comes to mind, and mulling over all of my idiosyncrasies, I could only come up with 4. I'm sure those of you who know me well may add to my list, but I'm not in the habit of thinking about myself (I am a mom and wife, after all). Feel free to add to the comments if you think of something I missed. Don't be too mean, though, or I'll delete you. I will do it; don't test me.

"Seven" things:
1. I enjoy teen-angst television like Degrassi and Gossip Girl.
2. I refold towels after the family helps fold clothes.
3. I love grocery shopping.
4. Whenever possible, before I use toilet paper or paper towels, I change the roll so the end comes over the top instead of from under the roll.

Here's my sixth picture:

Appropriate. This is the starting line-up at one of Zac's cross-country meets a couple of weeks ago.

I don't think I'll tag anyone with this. I don't want to pass on the agony.

Hope

2008-11-05T12:36:00.003-06:00

Quite a word to be bandied about lately.

Yesterday, Americans had a revolution. We don't complete revolutions with guns or intimidation. We own our revolutions at the voting booth. That alone gives me hope. I hope we can hold out for 4 years!

The Ragsland Exchange

2008-11-03T07:18:00.005-06:00

Zac: Mom, you know Jacob, Tyler's new little brother? Well, he was an accident.

Me: I'm not sure I'd call a baby an accident; more like unplanned.

Zac: Well, unplanned, or whatever, it could happen to you.

Me: Not so much really. Maybe only in the most bizarre of circumstances.

Zac: Why? Will you and Dad have to get a baby from Africa?

Me: No. When I had Jake, I had a procedure to prevent me from having anymore babies.

Zac: Oh, so have you gone through that phase (fanning himself while he talks) where you get all hot and sweaty?

And now, another installment of...The Buddy Chronicles

2008-10-30T10:14:00.006-05:00

I hope you used your best radio announcer's voice for that title. If you didn't, go back and read it again.

Thanks. Now your mood is set.

Yesterday, Zac didn't have after-school practice, so he road the bus home. He had a science project due for today that we immediately started working on. He had to make a 3D model of a plant or animal cell. We chose plant cell; mostly because we had an available shoe box to start the project.

So we're gathering up all of the supplies--tape, wrapping paper, play-doh, modeling clay--and I walked through the kitchen and glanced up at the clock on the microwave: 3:35. Like a woman possessed, I screamed, "Oh my gosh!!!!!! I have to go get Jake!!!" And I dashed out of the house.

Buddy, not missing his opportunity at an escape while I was in a crazed state, dashed out of the house. My last words to Zac were, "Don't worry about going after him, he'll be back."

I flew to the school, speeding the ENTIRE way, so as to avoid another incident with being late like before. Yes, I would rather pay an $80 speeding ticket than give the Principal the satisfaction of me being late. Twisted, I know, but that's how I roll.

At any rate, I was NOT the last person in line. In fact, there were at least 15 more cars behind me when I got to the front. AND there were WWWAAAYYY more than 15 kids still waiting. I digress.

We made it home and Buddy was back. Not only was he back, but he brought home a friend. A cute little dog that looked exactly like Buddy, but with black and brown hair and a long, curly tail. This dog was also wearing a fur-lined hoodie that said "Fly Dog" on the back. He was dressed to go visiting. Of course, he was not wearing a collar. (Why, oh why, don't people put a collar on their animals?)

I was about to get frantic at this point because Zac had this project to do, Jake had homework, and we had this dog to figure out now. On top of all of this, since Zac's in a bit of trouble with the phone situation, I couldn't just send him out walking with this new dog to find his people. I did what I usually do; I called Tech Support. That's what I call George when I'm frantic, computer-wise, or other-wise.

While I was on the phone with Tech Support, Buddy and his friend are running around the living room playing, the kids are chasing them and hollering, and I was trying to get some advise from "Kevin" (my tech guy from India). I went over to the dogs--Buddy was trying to get frisky with the new dog (he's so friendly), broke up the love, and the new dog hunched his back over and hunkered down to poop!

I started screaming, "No, no, no!" over and over. I picked up the dog and carried him, still hunched over, to the back door and put him out. George is laughing at the pandemonium, the kids are in hysterics and I'm cleaning up poop from the floor. Luckily, it wasn't messy.

I went back outside, but the dog was gone. I guess he made it home...

I guess that's the lesson with bringing home a friend. Make sure they're house-trained, or I'll put them out.

One of the reasons I think the south (TEXAS) is GREAT

2008-10-28T21:01:00.010-05:00

This weekend we took a whirlwind trip to Marble Falls, TX. My aunt had a retirement party for my mom and my other aunt. *Most* of the family made it. Actually, the usual suspects: Grandma, Grandpa, uncle, aunt, uncle, aunt, uncle, aunt, cousin, cousin's wife, cousin's boy, and US. My brother and his wife couldn't come because he's preoccupied with his newborn (and isn't ready to travel) and my sister and her family couldn't come because of a prior commitment.

We left about 1:00 on Friday and drove to Houston, where I had bought, on-line, tickets to High School Musical 3. MONTHS ago, we promised the boys we'd see the movie on opening night. At least that's what I keep telling myself. That Zac Efron is such a cutie, I don't need much of an excuse to watch him. The movie was great. Clean, sweet, and fun. It tied up all of the loose ends just exactly the way you'd want it. We headed on to MF and arrived around 1:00am, after a short detour to Fredricksburg (thanks, MapQuest).

I'll let the photos do the 'splainin' for why the south is great. Remember, this party was October 25th.

The Retirees

And finally, my sweet Grandma and Grandpa

My sister's going to kill me...

2008-10-28T09:03:00.005-05:00

But this tattling is germane to what I'm about to tell you.

When my sister was about 7 or 8 years old, New Kids on the Block were at the pinnacle of their popularity. Marketing was rampant, pop-radio airplay was nauseating, and fan-love was rabid.

One of the marketing ploys they used was particularly insidious. During children's television programming, they advertised a 900 number that you could call and talk to your favorite NKOTB boy. Of course, a 7-year-old girl doesn't know about the $2.95 connection fee and the 99c/minute fee thereafter.

I think you can see where this is going...When my mom got the phone bill, it was about $800. It may have been more, or less, but you get the point. For a person whose phone bill has always hovered around $50, I can imagine the reaction.

I just lived it.

Skip forward 20 years to cell phones.

Zac has had a cell phone for about 3 years now. The first 2 years he had a Firefly phone. It only allowed the user to make and receive calls from those numbers the parents programmed into the phone. After he proved responsibility with the firefly for 2 years, Santa brought him a regular cell phone last year for Christmas.

He's been doing very well with it. He hasn't lost it, broken it, or gone crazy with minutes. Every now-and-then he'll have a $1-$2 charge for a ring-tone or accidentally activating the mobile internet.

Yesterday, Jake brought in the mail. Among the political fliers, insurance company EOB, and offers for $100,000 home-equity lines of credit was the cell phone bill. My bill usually runs between $175 and $200, depending on the number of times we call information for a number or accidental internet activations.

MY BILL YESTERDAY WAS $923.43.

I couldn't catch my breath for possibly a full 10 minutes. Zac immediately blamed a friend of his for watching YouTube videos on his phone. Upon further examination, the truth was finally told. Zac was the one watching YouTube videos on his phone.

We had the usual words about how much $1000 is: almost an entire house payment, groceries for the month, a trip to Roswell, Thanksgiving break. There was weeping and gnashing of teeth. He brought me his savings and forgave the $100 I owed him to help pay the bill.

Thinking about this after a night's sleep, (and with the perspective of knowing that George called Cingular and retroactively placed a media package on Zac's phone so all of the charges fall under the new plan) I think it's kind of sweet and funny.

He's been a different kid this morning. I woke him up and he dressed immediately, ate breakfast, brushed his teeth and took care of the dog without any prodding. I'm not so sure I want to tell him we fixed it.

Another Day

2008-10-23T18:48:00.003-05:00

Slipping into stockings,
Stepping into shoes,
Dipping in the pocket of her raincoat.
Ah, it's just another day.

That's one of my most favorite songs ever.

It was cold and rainy today which always brings that song to mind. Perfect house-work weather. When I got finished helping out at Jacob's school, I ran a couple of errands then went home. I got a lot of laundry folded while I watched TV.

I was catching up on shows I'd recorded on the DVR and saw one recorded on October 13 which is one of my most favorite people ever's birthday. And it occurred to me that I did not call him (unless it was that day I called him in a panic over the stock market falling, and he had to talk me down, which was purely a coincidence).

Anyway, for his birthday to come and go without any fanfare of which I know, only speaks to his true, sweet humility. (As opposed to the sky-writing service I'd like to hire for my birthday announcement.) He is the most generous person I know, in all ways and is an absolute inspiration to me.

So, in lieu of a card or a phone call, Bruce gets a tribute on my blog for all the world to read. Or at least the 4 of you I know are reading...and you know who you are.

Happy Belated Birthday, Bruce.

OMG, Am I this old?

2008-10-21T18:16:00.003-05:00

Zac informed me today that this Friday is the one-year anniversary of him "going out" with his girlfriend Katie. He wants to do something special for her...

Yikes. He's had a GIRLFRIEND for 1 year!!!!!

We're leaving to go out of town Friday afternoon, so aside from him taking a box of chocolates to his beloved, there's nothing more he can do.

X Country

2008-10-19T09:11:00.006-05:00

No, I'm not getting ready to tell you about some hot, new alt/country band. Yesterday,we went to Walker for a cross country meet. Zac's been running with the middle school cc team last year and this year.

It was a great meet. All of the kids got to run in the Jr. High race. Usually, only the kids with the best times get to run in the JH race so that the best times will count (the top 7 in your team) and the others run with the Jr. Varsity High School race. Zac's first race this season was with the JV runners, but his times have been really good so he's been running with the JH kids. One race, he even finished 7th.

Saturday's time was 14:30 or :28 or something like that. He did a great job. I think he came in 8th on his team.

Really, though, once you laid your head down on the pillow Saturday night, had you run 2 miles? I know I didn't.

Can you find Zac in this picture?

Coming in for the finish.

Finished. And he didn't even run!

Smarty pants

2008-10-17T09:39:00.003-05:00

The boys got their report cards this week.

Jake had all As and Zac had all As and 1 B. Even the B was almost an A.

We're very proud of our hard-working boys.

The Weekend

2008-10-14T11:35:00.000-05:00

Hang on, Internet. It was a long weekend.

Saturday morning, Zac had a cross-country meet in South Baton Rouge. He ran at 9:30, but we had to be there between 8 and 8:30 to check in and get warmed up. This meet and the last, he got to run in the jr. high race where the times count for your team. They only take the top 7 times. Last week Zac was number 7, but this week I think he came in 8th or 9th on his team. He had a good race, though, and his time was 15:40 for 2 miles. The way I figure, even if his time was 30 minutes, at the end of the day, he's run 2 miles. What the heck did you or I do? I'll try to get some pictures up of the next meet.

We boogied back home so I could get ready to go *back* downtown for WHEEL!!

I got there around 1:00. The auditions were held in the Belle of Baton Rouge Casino Atrium.

The way it worked was that there were 3-one hour games at 2:00, 3:30 and 5:00. Each game time had a different colored application form: yellow, blue and orange, respectively. The form had just basic info like name, address, phone, e-mail and hobbies and interests. They collected all of those quarter-sheet forms and poured them in a spinner drum thing.

The traveling host's name is Marty Lublin and the traveling Vanna's name is Heidi Jackson. They pick 5 names at a time from the drum and call those folks up to play the speed-up round. If you're not familiar with the speed-up round, it's at the end of the game when time is running short and Pat gives the wheel a final spin and each contestant gets to give a letter then has 3 seconds to solve the puzzle.

Once you're chosen to go up on stage, you meet Marty and tell him a bit about yourself. He encourages everyone to sing or dance, tell a joke or funny story so that your personality will shine. He says that the audition begins when your name is called from the audience. I couldn't believe the people who got on stage who didn't even act like they were excited to be there! I was getting annoyed by that, since there were perfectly wonderful people in the audience who were stupid excited to be there.

Speaking of audience. You would not believe the people who showed up for this deal. There was everyone from blue-toothed professionals to the retired set, students, beautiful people, and those not-so-beautiful people. People came from all over the state and Mississippi, even a person from North Carolina. (I think the NC person was visiting.)

Anyway, I didn't get chosen for the first game, and since I'd not eaten lunch yet (it was 3:00 already), I went to the restaurant and got a very delicious turkey club to take back to turn in an application for the 3:30 show.

By this time people were getting a little loosened up and a few more people were showing off their special singing and dancing talents. One guy was a nice singer and another lady showed off her ballroom dancing skills with Marty.

So, I didn't get chosen for the second game, so I went to the bar and watched some of the USC game and had a beer. I really wanted a diet Coke, but the hotel didn't sell Coke products. I thought it was some sort of charter for southern cities to only offer Coke products. I had to settle for a Coors Light.

I dropped in my orange application for the 5:00 show. Alas, I was not called and went home. When I got home, George and the boys had cleaned up the living room and made dinner. Fajitas. We settled in to watch the LSU game at 7:00. I couldn't keep my eyes open. Surprisingly, standing around all day in anticipation is exhausting. I went to bed around 8:30.

Sunday morning was the usual getting ready for church.
"Mom! Where's my belt!"
"I can't find my shoes!"
"Can I wear my Heelys?"
"What? My choir is singing today? I'm not going to church. I hate church. I don't want to sing. I'm just going to stand there and move my mouth."

Never fear. Everyone was dressed, in belts, and regular shoes. Jacob even sang with the choir and I could tell he was really singing.

We ate lunch at church. On the 2nd Sunday, we have a lunch for $6 where all of the proceeds go to missions. The meal that day was fried catfish. It was pretty good.

I brought a change of clothes and George and the boys dropped me back off at the Belle for Sunday's auditions.

The Weekend...Part Deux

2008-10-14T10:11:00.017-05:00

After the boys dropped me off, I noticed there were far fewer people that day. I thought my chances were better. I filled out my application and sat to wait in the audience area.

**Some of the following events may not be in the order in which they are presented. The only thing I can completely remember is the beginning and the end. They are completely accurate.**

After a few minutes, a lady came and sat with me. She was there by herself too. Her name was Sherrie. She's the director of the Ascension Parish Chamber of Commerce in Gonzales. She was really friendly and up for a great time!

--Side Bar--
I met a friend on Saturday, too. Her name was Carla. That will be significant shortly.
--Close Side Bar--

We watched the show, hopeful. Again, I wasn't chosen. Sherrie wasn't sure she was going to stay, but I twisted her arm to go ahead and stay(it wasn't very hard to convince her). What else were we going to do on Sunday? House work? Nap? Laundry? Bah! That will always be there, but this was the last day for the Wheel.

We went to the bar and had a beer together and watched the Houston Texans game, then went back to put in our applications for the 2nd game at 3:30.

They called up more people who, obviously, didn't want to be there. I was beginning to wonder why they even came. There are perfectly wonderful people in the audience who want more than anything to play!!! Lo, and behold, my new friend Carla was called.

Earlier in the afternoon, I ran into Carla and introduced her to Sherrie. They began comparing notes and realized they had a bunch of the same friends, so they became fast friends. When Carla got up to talk to Marty, Sherrie and I were waving and cheering like crazy people. She was sufficiently cheerful and friendly and I think has a good chance for a call-back.

Five more names. Five more not mine. But then my friend Sherrie was called! I couldn't believe it. People all around me were getting called and even 2 people I had met that weekend were called.

When Sherrie got up to talk to Marty, I got on a chair and waved like a crazy person and took pictures of Sherrie. Marty AND Heidi noticed me waving and waved back. Sherrie gave me a shout-out. Sherrie was charming and wonderful. She got to talk about the far-flung, exotic locations her family were in at that particular moment. Sherrie was terrific and I know she'll get a call-back.

This next picture is of Sherrie waving to me, but I was waving back and so the pic is blurry! (Crazy excited!)

Five more names. Five more not mine.

We hung around for the third game. Sherrie decided to wait with me. She had a good feeling.

The last five names were called around 5:50. One, two, three, four, four, four, five, five, five, five (the repeat numbers indicate people who had left and they drew another name)........the crowd was going crazy now........Jana Ragsdale.

I screamed my head off!!!!!!!!!!! I was the LAST person called for the LAST game of the weekend. I ran up there and was hysterical. I was laughing and crying all at the same time. The staff there had to take my picture. I'm sure it was as good as my driver's licence. They directed me to sit in the waiting area, but realized I hadn't signed in. I stepped over to do that when another staff person had my application and asked my name. I literally could not speak. He looked at me and asked if I knew my name. I think he thought I might have ridden the short bus downtown that day. I just pointed to my name. He said that'll do. I sat down.

The game before mine finished up and my group went on stage. My friend, Sherrie, had my camera. When it was my turn to talk to Marty, I don't even remember how I got over to talk to him. I think I floated.

Marty: Hi. What's your name?
Me: Jana Ragsdale
Marty: And Jana, what do you do?
Me: (with attitude) Well, I am the storage diva for Zachary, Louisiana!
Marty: Storage Diva?
Me: Yea. I'm the manager of a self-storage facility in Zachary. Anybody from Zachary still in the house??!! (cheering erupts from the crowd. I don't think there were but a couple of people from Zachary, but it's fun to cheer on a crazy person)

Marty: Jana, what do you like to do when you're not the Storage Diva?
Me: Well, I have a husband and two boys, so I love watching little league baseball, going to friends' houses, and having friends over, hanging out in our back yard, swimming and cooking, and making new friends. I have to say hey to my new friends Carla and Sherrie who BOTH got to play today! And I just took up another hobby today.
Marty: Another hobby today? What's that? (baitingly)
Me: Dancing, of course!!

The crowd erupted, "Yeah" by Usher came on, and, yes, I danced on stage for the about 100 people remaining in the audience.

My puzzle was a before and after puzzle. We all got to give a letter. I said 'N'on my first try and 'M' (I think) on my second. The second lady in line solved the puzzle: SPELLING BEE STING.

We were dismissed and Marty thanked everyone for coming. Sherrie met me at the bottom of the steps.

I'm not sure if I'll get a call-back. When they review the tape, I'll probably be passed over as a little too much the crazy.

You know that, internet, you'll be one of the first to know.

WHEEL!

2008-10-09T18:33:00.002-05:00

I am totally going to try out for this. The auditions are Saturday and Sunday, 2-6. Wheel of Fortune is my favorite game show!

I'll definitely be letting you know how it goes.

I forgot to tell you...

2008-10-06T21:17:00.006-05:00

Internet, it was great to see Dan Patrick and Keith Olbermann yesterday on ESPN. Keith being his non-political, sportsman, self and Dan being his funny straight-man self. I totally miss that.

Were it not for them, I don't think I'd enjoy ESPN, football, baseball, or even NASCAR half as much. NASCAR is only a tertiary enjoyment. I like the big fat nap I took yesterday. I don't think it had as much to do with NASCAR as it did with the fact that the kids are 12 and 6 and that I felt like I could sleep without fear that they would burn down the house or kill each other. At any rate, yesterday was a very good day.

**Update**

I was reading this post and saw that the last sentence originally read "...yesterday was a very food day." I thought that was funny.

The Buddy Chronicles

2008-10-06T12:32:00.005-05:00

I think I'll start a new heading for all of the Buddy adventures. He got out AGAIN this morning. I was taking Jake to school and realized that I'd forgotten my lunch at home. After I dropped Jake off, I headed back home to pick it up and Buddy got out when I tried to close the door behind me. He's going crazy without a yard. We've set the posts for the new fence in the back yard, but haven't gotten the rest built yet. George said that if he keeps on running off, we'd have to give him away to someone who has land where he can go crazy without the possibility of getting run over. I think we need to reserve judgement until we get the fence built. I don't know. He's a crazy dog with a very strong run instinct. I think this is a perfect example of nature winning out over nurture. Why would this nutso dog choose to run off and risk life and limb, literally, over the lush, comfortable life he lives with his people?

************Update*************

Buddy was home when I got home with the kids this afternoon at 4:00

Getting gas

2008-10-06T09:58:00.004-05:00

You would think that would be fairly uneventful. Oh, no, not in redneck country, Louisiana.

Saturday night I was taking Zac to a party in Norwood, LA. I was under the impression that Norwood was about 15 miles from where we are in Zachary. The invitation included a small map of how to get to this girl's house and indicated that parents were welcome. That should have been my first warning. The party was at 7:00; we left at 6:30 to stop by Wal Mart to get a gift card and birthday card. I figured Zac would be fashionably late, like 7:15.

We drove and drove. My low-fuel light came on. We were in the middle of nowhere getting a little nervous. We had been driving already about 20 minutes, so I called the girl's house. Her dad, laughingly, asked if we'd made it to Mississippi yet. I said not yet, we had just passed through Slaughter. He told me that if we get to the MS line, we'd gone too far (duh!) and to turn back around and take the first right off of the highway.

At this point I was a little aggravated that the map didn't have any indication that we were going so far away and understood why parents were welcome to attend the party. Who wanted to drive 40 minutes there, and 40 back only to turn back around? I apologized to Zac for being so late. It was already 7:25 and we needed to get gas.

We came into a small town called Ethel and there was a Texaco station at the flashing light intersection. The pump section of the station was new and modern, but the store part of the station was very old with fliers and posters plastered all over the windows and painted wooden signs advertising fresh cracklins. I didn't think much of it since the gas was fully 10c less than that in Zachary. Since we were so late to the party, I thought I'd at least fill up.

That's when the interesting thing happened.

The guy who had the car on the other side of the pump I was using stumbled out of the store, let out a HUGE burp and started filling his car. I could hear liquid spilling out on the ground and thought maybe he didn't get the nozzle in correctly and I started to peek around the pump. I'm so glad I stopped myself because I noticed his feet spread apart farther than was necessary to maintain balance, then I saw a small stream of liquid pooling at the elevated curb where the pump is mounted, THEN I heard the tell-tale sigh of a man satisfied.

He was peeing at the pump while he put gas in his car. Kinda gives new meaning to Pay-at-the-Pump. Tell me you won't think of that next time you get gas! :)

I immediately stopped filling my car, and jumped in the car to take off. The pump was at $15.12. I figured that was enough gas to get out to BFE without being stranded. Zac asked what was wrong. I told him about the man peeing. We had a good laugh and said that if we didn't ever make it to this party, we certainly had an adventure.

By the way, we did make it to the party...AT 7:40! Meghan, the party girl, was really happy Zac and so many of her friends made the effort to get out there. I just wish we had coordinated our efforts better and carpooled.

Can you believe it?

2008-10-05T05:53:00.004-05:00

We hosted another dog yesterday and last night. The neighbors behind us, diagonally, got a new puppy and were gone yesterday. They left this puppy outside and it kept getting out and coming over to our house, so we kept her for the night. We'll take her home before we go to church this morning.

She's a really good puppy. She slept with George and me so we could get up with her during the night.

What is interesting about this puppy is that she is a peace offering. Our back yard neighbor, Terry, told me that her next-door neighbor (my diagonal back-yard neighbor and the owner of this puppy) came over to apologize to her for her fiance and her fighting. The woman and her 2 young daughters left for about a week and stayed with her mother. It turns out that the man was hitting her. She was talking about leaving him, but I guess a puppy makes everything better.

I'm finished

2008-10-04T13:34:00.002-05:00

I finished reading Same Kind of Different as Me.

As I told you before, I read it for my Sunday school class.

It was a good book, a touching and tender story.

I think the kernel of truth I'll take from it is that one person can make a difference.

Tell me your thoughts if you've read the book.

dog, pie and post holes

2008-10-04T07:04:00.008-05:00

Pay close attention to the comma. We did not have Dog Pie.

Buddy's back. George was using my car yesterday so he could do some work on his, so he picked me up from work. When we got home, Buddy was waiting at the back door, sans collar and leash. I figure he got hung up in something and wriggled his head out of his collar. Some farmer will find a leash and collar wrapped around some scrub brush someday and have a few questions.

The pie was fantastic. Very easy, good, reliable recipe. I encourage you to make one. I think I'll bring it to Thanksgiving.

Yesterday afternoon, George and I dug the post holes for the new fence. Here are some pictures:

Naturally, nothing can go perfectly. We had to do 5 holes. Numbers 1-3 were easy. Number 4 got stuck and we had to dig out the auger. Number 5 cut through the telephone line, even though we weren't ANYWHERE close to the marked lines the city laid out for us a few days ago.

Oh well. George and the boys are on their way to a cross country meet right now. I have to work today. Hopefully, they'll finish setting the posts while I'm at work.

trying a new recipe

2008-10-02T22:33:00.005-05:00

My friend, Chris, sent me this recipe today for a chocolate pecan pie with green chiles and beer in the recipe. Having all of the ingredients on hand, I decided to try it out. Click here for the recipe.

If I do say so myself, I make a pretty pie. I hope it tastes as good as it looks.

By the way, Buddy the Dog got out this evening and hasn't come back yet.

Stupid-ass dog ran off wearing his leash too. I hope he hasn't gotten hung up in something or run over. We've begun the candlelight vigil...