Sorry, guys...

but, you must endure ,once again, putting up with one of my bitchy replies to one of my in-laws. I've had my fill of his crap in my inbox, but this one struck me as particularly asinine. I'd LOVE to send it directly to him, but I'm pretty sure that a few (well, 2 of them) members of the family would get together and have me lynched for female insubordination. Well, and my husband would be SERIOUSLY pissed off (rightfully so) that I stirred the family drama pot. Neither is likely to stumble upon a blog, though, because I heard them discussing "blogs" once...ohhh my...that would be a post for another day.

Betrayal? Seriously? While I may or may not agree with them, voting against a language bill is certainly not tantamount to treason which is what the words "betrayal", and "violation of the pledge of allegiance" imply. Undermining the military? How, exactly, does our not having an "official language" do that? Rich's email address is XXXXXXX@XXX.com. Please send all stupidity to that address. The author isn't even smart enough to hit the spellchecker button before he sends an email out to be disseminated to the entire world. The word is spelled, w-a-r-r-A-n-t-e-d!

Only in Texas - A Weather Report

You are going to think I am making this up, but I'm not. This was what the weather lady actually said during yesterday's morning forecast:

" We're headed for a high of 72 degrees today, but with a north wind this might still seem pretty chilly to some of you."

Are you serious? WHO? Who on earth thinks that 72 freaking degrees, IN DECEMBER, is chilly? People in Texas? Well, that figures.

Mr. Murphy, You can stick your "law" right up your ass already

1. Murphy's Law is a real bitch. But, it is, in fact, a rule of nature. Since the man of the house has abandoned me to "serve the country" for a few weeks the following have occurred.
   
   1. Mouse in the kitchen (are you freakin kidding me?"!#$%^@*!)
   2. Middle child split back of head open, AND had the audacity to bleed on my vintage cowboy print pillows.
   3. Aforementioned middle child's injury is reopened when his head is pelted with a basketball at PE the following day.
   4. Aforementioned mouse (which we thought was long gone after visit from exterminator)scampers across floor as my mom (read: only reinforcement) is leaving for the airport, so I am once again left alone to deal with the D-A-M-N nasty sonofabitch.
   5. As I am sitting in desk chair (feet pulled up into chair) pretending to not know there is a mouse in the kitchen, the school nurse calls me to pick up middle child. He has been hit, hard, in the forehead with a badminton racket and seems to be abnormally drowsy.(thankfully, he turns out to be just fine.)
   
   Does any of this crap ever happen when the man is at home? Hell no! Any time he leaves for the airport (and, um, hello - he is a pilot - so this is like all. the. time.), you can count on some plumbing disaster, a call from school, a trip to the ER, or most likely all three and more. Are you with me on this? Tell me it is the same at your houses. Nothing ever goes wrong until you really, really need it to go right for a while. I'm thinking of starting a new blog called, Don't Marry a Pilot!
   
   However, the universe must have taken some pity on me because my mom and I accomplished the great majority of my Christmas shopping, and most of it is even wrapped and safely hidden away. AND, I landed two really cool, hard-to-find gifts that I had planned to not even bother with. I bet you can guess what at least one of them is ;)

Compromise is Good

For once in our life, we had Christmas pictures taken by a professional instead of getting some snapshots ourselves. The DIY version usually involves much stress and some arguing. Using a professional was much less traumatic for all involved. However, one point of contention was which frame/pose to use for the Christmas card picture. He won. So, in the spirit of compromise, I'll just publish the one I wanted to use here. Consider this a holiday cyber-greeting.

Merry Christmas!

Only in Texas - Special Christmas Edition

I challenge you to find clip art of a Christmas tree decorated with images of your state.

AND...


Christmas music just for you and your special state:

FYI

1. My hair looks much better. Thanks for asking. I know you were all concerned.

2. I've read on several blogs lately about the authors' obsessiveness with grammar, style, and punctuation. It has me all twitchy. I share the love of all things being done correctly. I LOVE to help my boys with their grammar homework. I like things that have set rules like that. ( I love, love, love to diagram sentences!) However, I'm sure you have noticed that my blog-writing does not exhibit this love of grammar. This is because I really really do NOT have time to edit this thing they way I would edit other things like papers and correspondence. You guys are lucky I even hit the spellcheck button. My competitive and ego-driven self, though, is now freaking out that all of you natural writers out there think that I am some dumb idiot with no grasp of the written language arts. I assure that I can write correctly. I just cannot allow myself to obsess about such things here. It would make me crazier than I already am. I consider the blog more of a conversation with friends than an actual written composition. Can that be my excuse?

Gonna wash that gray right outta my hair!

I have always highlighted my hair. Well, now those highlights are accentuating my *gasp* grays. So, today, for the first time, I am going to actually color my whole darn head to cover those pesky signs of aging. I'm a little afraid that I will leave the salon looking like a goth chic.*

I realize that this isn't that big of a deal. However, to me it feels like turning a corner. Albeit, a vain corner, but still a corner. What's next? Will I be asking Rich to get me some botulism for Christmas?

I can remember when I was 14 or 15 and tried to make myself appear older. What the hell was I thinking?

* Nothing wrong with being a goth chic - just very not me!
* Goth, however, still beats the helmet-like Texas Big Hair