Pay It Forward Contest

Since Hurricane Gustav has foiled my New Orleans plans, I'm off to good ole' Austin. 6th street, Cedar St. Bar, Lake Travis, food, food, food, food! Hope everyone has a fun and safe holiday weekend!!!!

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Since I won Fiona Picklebottom's PiF contest, it is now time for me to host my PiF II. Leave me a comment between now and Monday at 11pm (Central time), and the lovely random number generator will pick a winner soon after. I will probably announce on Tuesday.

So, here's what I want to know (wait for it.....):

Did you hear about this story? Someone won the lottery, and put the winning ticket in the offering plate at their church. The church will be getting at least $100,000 a year through 2028!! How cool is that??
So, this is what I want to know--If you were to win the lottery, what nice, unselfish, giving thing would you do with the money?

2nd post of the day! But only to give you another update

I guess I could have just edited my other post, huh?


Anyway, I forgot to mention this bit of news this week:





The ladies at 3Giraffes were nice enough to include me in their award-giving on Monday! How sweet are they?? I've seen this award floating around on other blogs, and I do appreciate receiving it! Thanks ladies!!!

Because Moo is oh-so right!

Moo over at Moo's Moo said that everyone needs updates, because we all love closure, and I do believe she is right. So! I think I need to update you lovely people on some things because I know you care. (And as a little sidenote, check out Moo's blog today. She is trying to come up with baby names for her upcoming special delivery, and it is sooo fun to come up with names! Help a girl out!)

1. I accidently left you hanging at the end of my last post, and I really didn't intend to. What happened when I called the ASPCA? Well, first off, it took like 2 weeks for them to come out, because there was only one investigator assigned to my county and the county next to me. And let me tell you, it's all country, so I can only imagine how busy the poor guy was! But, when he did finally visit, he made them sell a couple of their horses. And all of a sudden, every day or so, my stupid neighbors would appear out of thin air, and bring hay and fresh water. But then they were told to sell the donkeys, unless they wanted them to be taken away. Of course, this all happened AFTER I moved, so I found out from my normal neighbor. How well they care for the remaining animals now, I couldn't tell you, because I've only been out there once, and I was too heartbroken over the state of my old home to even notice the animals across the street. But that's another story.

2. In this post, I asked you guys to guess what I was doing with all that fabric. One person guessed that I was making outfits for my daughter's little monkey, Cookiebutt. NOPE! Someone else asked if I was going into business. Fun, but NOPE! Making reusable grocery bags? Good idea, but NOPE! Making a bag for her? Nice try, but NOPE!
The real answer is this, and pictures are to follow: I made some wallart for my daughter's room, using large canvases, and stretching the fabric across. I also made smaller ones for my friend's playroom. I still have 2 large throw pillows to make pillowcases for, which will also go in my friend's playroom. I also am still in the process of making some cute curtains with yellow gerber daisies sewn onto them. Hard to explain without pictures, but I swear, I'll get there.

3. That beautiful orchid I bought during that weekend shopping spree? Yeah, uh, within a week of it getting comfortable in my bedroom, all the blossoms started to wilt. Right now, it has not.one.single.flower. Sigh. So I have a healthy, green, plant. Weeee.

4. The continuing saga of the bugs in my house: No scorpions since the one that stung my husband, but the ants? Oh holy hell. I'm about to lose my frickin' mind. And they are fire ants, not sugar ants. Figure that one out, will ya?
If you follow me on Twitter (jeez, I still can't believe I fell in that hole), you probably saw my Twit/Tweet about how 4 million ants had moved into my pantry while I was at work last week, and ate my Kashi cookies. And how I hoped they would all explode from the cookies. Oh, they also took over my cereal, my crackers, and my flour. (WTF?)
Well, I thought I killed them all. Then yesterday morning, I found about 20 random ants on one of my shelves in the pantry. I killed them and again tried to figure out how the hell 20 ants could just appear in my pantry, which is in the middle of the house, nowhere near a door or window. Where the hell are you fuckers coming from????
Yesterday I got home from work to find my loaf of bread covered in ants. In the pantry, of course. How did they even get in the bag? Just typing this is getting me all itchy and goosebump-y. Ick Ick Ick.
So I again attacked them, and cleaned my pantry.
Got home from boot camp, and on the next shelf up, with all the tin foil, plastic wrap, ziplock bags, and a random canister with peanuts and pistachios in it--about 4 million ants.
Seriously, I thought my head was going to explode in the middle of my kitchen. I don't even know what to do with myself! Where are they coming from????

5. My trip to New Orleans this weekend: Damn you, Hurricane Gustav!! I am not quite sure what my friend and I were thinking when we planned a trip to the hurricane destination of the country, at the beginning of hurricane season, but I'm pretty sure we were just so ready for a damn break that our tired minds just saw the opportunity to sleep, eat, read, and drink without kids. So, uh, anyone watch the news lately? Gustav is headed for my vacation spot! So, we had to cancel our reservations, and now we are going to Austin, which will still provide us with ample opportunities to sleep, eat, read, and drink without our kids, thank you sweet Jesus. Even though it's still in the state, and not as interesting-sounding as New Orleans, we would prefer not to get stuck in the Astrodome.

6. My trip to New York??? Yeah......well, our free flight vouchers are uh, not really an option. I don't even have the patience to explain why. And the tickets to any of the games during the weekend we wanted to go? Oh, how about $400+ per ticket? Shit. Now the possible plan is to go in October, and just go on a tour of the stadium, before they shut it down. I would absolutely love to see the Yankees play, but we had planned on spending the money on the game tickets, not the game tickets and the flight there. Boooooooo.

7. My younger bro did indeed move in with me. I am so excited to have him around. He makes me laugh every day, and I feel so much better knowing that he is eating on a regular basis (and more than just the $1 menu at Wendy's and McDonald's).

8. Fresca and Tequila? Absolutely tasty!!!

9. My shingles? Well, I finally don't look like I slept in poison ivy. I've still got some patches on my legs, but nothing like before. However, I still itch. And itch.

10. My little sidebar over there --------------> tells you that I have had my nose stuck in the same damn books for like 6 months. Which isn't true. I just intended to give you some reviews of the books, and well, I was busy. So, for those of you who asked:

• The Year of Fog: I loved the raw emotion of this book. My heart was in my throat while reading the majority of this book. I didn't even want to put myself in the main character's shoes. Although, I would like to think that I would be as determined and motivated as she was, to find the little girl. I was glued to the story, and stayed up way too late each night to finish it. My only complaint?-There were several chapters of the character's misery over losing the child, and how she must.find.the.child., and it got to be a bit excessive. I found myself thinking, "Okay, I get the damn point already! You lost the kid, you are feeling guilty and awful about it, and you want to find her." Sheesh. But all in all, I would recommend this book to anyone looking for some hope. (And as a side note, I did recommend this book to several fellow bloggers this summer, and apparently, the author of the book saw my comment to Shamelessly Sassy, and sent her next book to Shamelessly Sassy AND ME! I haven't read it yet, but I was all 'Sqeeeeeeeeee! I got a free book!')
• Such a Pretty Fat: This is the first Jen Lancaster book I read, after going to her book signing and meeting her. I loved it! She is so snarky and sassy, and I love her honesty. I definitely recommend this book to anyone looking for a good laugh, and also some motivation if you are looking to start exercising or eat healthier.
• Missing Mom: I started it, but haven't finished it, because I got all wrapped up in:
• Keeping Faith: I literally thought about skipping work to finish this book! Too bad I work for my husband. Damn it. This book is just fabulous! I don't want to give anything away, but I guarantee you will like this book! My only complaint was that I didn't really feel like there was enough closure at the end. I wanted a little more explained to me. But overall, love this book.

I'm reading some other really phenomenal books right now, and I'll try to be better about giving you my oh-so-informed opinion on them.

11. School just might kick my ass this semester. I've got 3 classes, but each professor apparently thinks his/her class is my only class, because holy hell! The papers! I've got papers and interviews and presentations looming over my head! So, I'm telling you this not to get sympathy, because I want to be in school, but to let you know that my postings might be sporadic for awhile. I know, I know, you are oh-so sad about this bit of news. But there are other awesome blogs you could read. Please come back though..???

12. And finally! (How many of you actually made it to the end of this boring-ass post??) Since I won Fiona Picklebottom's last Pay it Forward Contest, I need to host my PiF II contest soon! So, make sure you check back.......I'll be putting it up today or tomorrow, for sure!!

The saga of Springtown continues

My neighbors across the street were...weird. I don't really know how else to explain it.

The husband drove a cab. He was short, squatty, and pretty large. He apparently didn't know what deodorant was. He wore overalls, with one strap undone. The wife 'took care' of her horses and donkeys. I think she had some sort of job, because she was gone at odd hours. She apparently didn't know what deodorant was either. She wore skimpy little tank tops, cut off jeans, and cowboy boots. No bra. Sweet as can be, but uh, pretty country? They had teen boys, that I would hear screaming at one another during the day. They had like 12 dogs, who somehow never came over to my property (Thank God! Kooter would have had a fit, and that would not have been pretty!). They had ducks, but after a few weeks, their pond dried up, and the ducks flew over to one of my ponds. The wife sunbathed in a large water trough that the horses and donkeys drank out of.

They lived in a rundown trailer. It was a mess. The roof was covered in old tires. The porch had little twinkle lights all over it, but the steps were all broken. They pulled up the siding near the bottom of the trailer, so the dogs had somewhere 'dry and shady' to sleep. And they never put their trash out to the curb. It was behind the trailer, in this little shed thing that was barely standing. They told me the AC quit working, so they had the windows and door open all hours of the day and night. I could hear everything. And sometimes the donkeys went in the trailer. I kid you not. I don't think I have photographic proof, and now the thing doesn't exist, so, you'll just have to trust me on this one. More on this trailer later.

For now, let me tell you about the animals. There were 4 or 5 horses, and 4 donkeys. The horses were gorgeous, and all females. They were constantly fighting to be the alpha female, but they were so sweet and kind-hearted to my girl and I (once she was born).

The lone male donkey was named Paco. And he answered to it. And he was the horniest donkey I've ever seen. He was kicked many times by all the females, because he just couldn't take 'no' for an answer. But he was sweet.

Here's an interesting fact about donkeys: They don't like to be alone. They are social creatures, and they look for affection and companionship. If they don't get it, they bray. A lot. And since none of the females were interested in him, alllll we heard was braying. At noon. At 6pm. At 2am. At 6am. I used to actually open the door and tell him to shut up. It was pitiful.

A few times a week, I walked across the road to their property line. I brought apples, carrots, and sometimes parsley. They bit each other to get to me. They let me pet them, kiss their noses, and brush their manes. They even let my girl put her little fist in their noses, on more than one occasion.

Over time, these neighbors got weirder. They sorta disappeared. They would seemingly be gone for days or weeks at a time, and then show up at 3am, stomping, slamming car doors, yelling, whistling to their remaining animals. The dogs all wandered off, or died; I'm not sure. The trailer was near the end of my house where my bedroom was, and it became common for me to be wide awake, listening to them in the middle of the night.

During this time, the animals got thin. Really thin. Painfully so. Hipbones and collarbones showing. They ate every square inch of hay, grass, and even weeds on the 10 or so acres they had. Sometimes I would drive by on my way home from work, and find that someone had dropped off some hay. More times than not, though, they went hungry. So hungry, in fact, that they started eating their own crap. That's a very bad sign, let me tell you.

I began buying bags of apples and carrots on a daily basis. I also bought a salt block, and small square bales of hay, which I threw over the fence. One of the horses broke her leg, and it became infected. People started slowing down as they drove by, to check out the animals.

I realized that I could not save these animals. I called the ASPCA.

Celebrity Boy Crush

To be fair, I had to mention the men I drool over. (And for the few men who read my blog, I give you this: go here & drool ).
This is so very hard, and I'm not sure I can limit myself. Gah. Oh, and I already had the idea, but this lovely lady also did something similar. I swear she's my twin because we apparently have the same taste in hot famous men.

So, in no particular order, here are the men that I could think of while straining to concentrate:

Oscar de la Hoya Justin Furstenfeld (lead singer of Blue October)






LL Cool J Johnny Knoxville


Common Wentworth Miller





Tiger Woods Patrick Dempsey





Paul Walker Jude Law



Justin Timberlake Colin Farrell



Oh.my. I normally say that a man's body is not all that beautiful, when compared to the beauty of a woman's body, but these guys definitely give the ladies a run for their money.

Up next: Men's voices that I lurve. Mmmmmm.

Music Lover Monday

I had this great post about 'Make out' songs, and POOF! It disappeared. Sigh.
DAMN YOU, BLOGGER.

So, instead of trying to recreate the fabulousness that was my post, this is what you get.

I have a free trial of Sirius in my Jeep, and so far, I haven't really jumped into satellite radio. But this morning, I randomly decided to listen to 'Shady 45', which is hip hop, and two songs in a row almost made me swerve off the road head-first into a tree.

I like hip hop, rap, and R&B, for the most part. I marvel at the lyrics, the rhymes, the rhythms. There are some complete geniuses in this part of the music industry. Check out Common, or Ludacris, Busta, or Lil' Wayne. Their lyrics are just genius and I am in awe sometimes.

I would also have to say that not all of it is quality. Some of it sucks. Some of it makes me cringe, at the ignorance, the racism, the bad lyrics.

And as much as I love these two artists, I would have to say I was cringing when I heard these songs this morning. Check them out, but I give you fair warning: Neither of them are suitable for work, or around kids!

Ice Cube-A Gangsta's Fairytale

Eminem-Fack

OMG. They are just vulgar! And I feel like an old hag saying the word vulgar, but there's no other way to describe them! Yet, somehow, I still love these two men, as artists. Figure that one out.

Any vulgar songs you can't even stand to listen to?

Food for thought

I read this article yesterday, which I am pilfering from this fabulous writer. If you don't already have a staggering Google Reader count, I urge you to go through her archives (as I am trying to do!), and catch a load of her beautiful words. AM.SO.JEALOUS.

Ahem. Anyway.

This article really brought to the surface a lot of feelings and memories that I often don't take notice of in my wayward jam-packed brain.

My father was an aeronautical engineer. Besides the decent salary came the ever-present possibility of being laid off. Forgive the timeline inaccuracies here.....I am not certain when each thing began, ended, and overlapped. I just know that these are things that happened.

After the tragedy of losing my foster brother, my mother began her college degree. She also became pregnant with my brother. Somewhere in all that, my father was laid off for the first time.

We did the normal 'cutting back' things--no dinners out, no unnecessary purchases, no name brand food, no going out to the movies, no beer in the house, etc. We had a vegetable garden in our backyard, so that helped. We didn't water the lawn as much, we didn't drive to the park as often (we walked), we became more conscious of turning the lights off. And when it got cold, my dad had a constant fire going in our fireplace in the living room. We also didn't go on a summer vacation, but honestly, it was okay. My mother did a great job at making everything 'an adventure', and I didn't feel as though I was 'going without' or 'unlucky' or anything. It just was what it was.
Life went on as it normally did, despite these changes. My father learned how to apply for unemployment, which was stressful. He started painting houses, and doing other minor construction jobs, all while searching for another job that would use his degree.

After awhile, my mother got a job waitressing and bartending. She had done this in the past, when my parents were first married, and my father was in college. This helped us get through each month, and as far as I know, we made all our bills.

At some point, summer arrived. We kept the windows open longer than usual in this Texas heat, but we cooled off in our above ground pool. We hung our laundry out to dry, rather than use the dryer. I remember helping my mom hang the sheets in the mornings.

At some point, the pantry got pretty bare. The heat, stress, frustration, and anguish seemed to take hold of our house, smothering us. I sought refuge in the pool, in the shade of my father's trees. I also hid in my books. My mother sought hers in her friends at work, or in the garden. My father sought his in any manual labor he could find. All the unspoken thoughts and feelings seemed to hang in the air between my parents. Things, as a child, I was not able to understand.

I'm not sure when, but at some point I became painfully aware of the fact that our meals were smaller. But I will tell you right now, that I have no recollection of ever going hungry.

One morning, several bags of groceries showed up on our front porch. Another morning, an envelope of cash materialized in our mailbox. Sometimes we would come home to a bag of fast food on our porch. Neighbors brought over casseroles. My mom went to a local food bank, and came back with a box of food. Then she broke out her mother's cookbooks, and learned to make meals with different ingredients.

We survived. And I am not ashamed to say that we took handouts. We accepted help. My parents did what they had to do to make sure I was fed. They busted their asses, and at some point, that wasn't enough. Did we end up losing our house? No. Did we eat at a soup kitchen? No. Were we late on bills, did we steal from one to pay the other? I'm sure we did.

Once my father was rehired by the same company that laid him off in the first place, things went back to the way they were. Mostly. I've learned that things are never exactly the same. I wasn't afraid I would go hungry. Nor was I afraid we would lose our house. I just had this nagging little feeling deep in my chest, that things within our family had been changed forever.

We spent holidays at the area soup kitchen, preparing and serving food to the homeless and hungry. We donated boxes of food to the same food bank we had borrowed from. I later volunteered there while in high school. We went back to helping Kurdish refugees from our church.

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My friend and I were chatting about how we 'went without' when we were growing up, after we both read this article. And how now, we seem to take for granted the fact that we have the ability to go to three different grocery stores to find 'the perfect dessert', or to go to a farmer's market for fresher produce. We have freezers and pantries full of essentials and frivolous food alike. And we still go out to eat. More than once a week. We are so very lucky.

I want to take this further by saying that I am willing to 'go without' some of my frivolous food extras (like having 4 different kinds of ice cream in the freezer at once!), to help the area food bank. I will continue to buy the healthy food I buy for my family, and a few of my girl's favorite little snacks, but I am going to start stocking up on necessities to donate. I think it's only right for me to 'pay it forward' and help others, as my family was helped back then.