Four days after returning from our camping trip and all the laundry is done, most of the gear is put away and the smell of campfire has dissipated (wiping away a tear). It takes me longer to put everything away then it does to actually go on the camping trip to begin with, but it's worth it. We had a few bumps along the way, but overall I'd chalk up our first family camping weekend in TX as a success. I have to say, I'm quite surprised at how ...
Life & Love
The Real Competition
It's Tuesday again which means tonight you'll find me and the fam all huddled around the TV watching Design Star (8pm CST on HGTV). Bex Hale is one of the designers competing this season for her own design show and she happens to be an old friend of mine. She was in the church youth group way back in our high school days. She was always gorgeous, super talented (an artist, a singer, an actress), outgoing, fun and commanded attention wherever she ...
Is It Fall Yet?
About 2 months before school is over for the year I start looking forward to summer vacation. No more getting up at dark-thirty to spend an hour trying to get the minions out of bed and somewhat presentable for school, no more digging through the couch cushions trying to find coins for lunches because I'll never see the change if I give them dollar bills, no more battling the crazy drivers in the drop-off/pick up lines at school, no more riding ...
The Call of Nature
Last night I started looking up campsites in the TX/OK area and I can almost smell the campfire already. Summer camping is a long family tradition that goes back generations and is continuing with me and my family. I grew up camping every summer. We started out tent camping and us 3 girls became pros at putting up that 2 room tent. We never quite mastered the using-nature's-bathroom-without-peeing-down-your-own-leg skill though, so it was always ...
Maybe It’s Time For a Bicycle
I am a serial killer. Of cars. It's not that I set out to destroy cars, I just have a gift. I'm not sure if it would be negligent homicide? Death by proximity? Whatever it is, I'm tough on my cars and tend to run them into the ground. I've had so much car trouble, in fact, that I keep a tow truck driver on speed dial. When I call, he doesn't answer with "Hello", he answers with "Where are you this time?". I once had a station wagon that I ...
Has NASCAR Called Yet?
There are very few times in my life when I have felt like my life was in danger. As a rule I try to avoid anything that is dangerous, questionable or even just taxing, so to fear for my very life is a rare experience. And yet, wouldn't you know, I have a story to share about that very thing. In the years B.C. (Before Children), MC and I lived here in TX. While he would go off to his construction work every day, I would drive the 45 minutes to an ...
Deep in the Heart of Texas
I've decided to make my Flashbacks an every-other-Friday kind of thing because I always have too much to say and not enough time to say it. So this week instead I will bring you some news. I am officially a Texan. OK, I know I moved here in May of last year, I have a house and, at one time, I was even employed here, but it's really not official until you get your driver's license. I believe the law states that you are supposed to get it within ...
Where, Oh Where Has Our Daughter Gone?
An incident occurred on Sunday that reminded me that no matter how hard we try to avoid it, we grow up to be just like our parents. Deny it all you want, but it's true. Sunday was an interesting day in our house. In the morning, Sassy and Bubba stayed home from church with me because they had both had low fevers the night before. They were dealing with the tail end of a week long battle with nasty germs but were getting better. I thought it ...
First Kiss
It happened. My son was kissed by a girl. My kids are getting older so I knew it was bound to happen, I was just hoping for later rather than sooner. And I definitely didn't expect it to happen to Bubba first. That's right--Bubba had his first kiss. He gets to stay after school to help in the library a couple of days a week. I was picking him up from library duty and as he was getting buckled he announced that he got "liked" at school. "Not the ...
Return of the Slumber Party: Part 2
When you have children, you want to give them everything--you know, within reason. You want them to be happy. I chalk up my recent moment of insanity to this overwhelming love of my children and my obsessive need to be the cool parent. That's the only explanation I can offer for my decision to let Sassy have another slumber party. She was given a choice for her birthday--a big party with lots of kids or a slumber party with just a few girls. You ...