SOCCER SATURDAY

Unless I am attending a crop, Saturday mornings are dedicated to watching my grandson, Mekhi play soccer. He is a great player for a four year old. He has such a sense of the game and thrives on dominating the game. He, like his grandfather and dad, is a natural athlete and excels in any thing he plays. He is so much fun to watch! Both sides of the family gather and take up most of the side line. Here are some pics...

The only sad part of the game is when it's over. Mekhi usually cries because he doesn't want to stop playing and scoring. His coach usually has to talk to him to assure him there will be another game next week. He will probably play T-ball this summer or we will have to find a select soccer league because he can't stand to not have a sport to play or a practice to go too.

58th Birthday

Janice (my BFF) and Stephanie (my oldest daughter) took me out for a girl's night last Wed. for my 58th Birthday. They took me to Habanas in Austin. It's Cuban and I love it. Really, the best part of the meal is the Tres Leches. If you have never had Tres Leches you do not know what you are missing! Habanas is famous for their Tres Leches. I eat it every time I get the chance...which is not offend enough.

You can see how we fought over the very last crumb!! I felt like a pup around a food bowl with all the growling and gnashing of forks.

My birthday had to be the same time as South X Southwest Music Festival in Austin and Habanas has to be on Sixth Street in Austin. OMG!! The sights we saw. My eyes, my eyes!!!! There was no where to park and people were everywhere. We were in and out as quickly as possible. And people pay hundreds of dollars to go downtown and attend all this madness. I know I am old... The only time I went was when Sam Elliott was at the premier of his new movie a couple of years ago. I was sitting in the role right behind him...OMG!

2-2-2

2 months, 2 weeks, 2 days till I leave for Alaska!!! Time seems to be going fast and slow at the same time. Seems like it will never get here, but when I am busy and then sneek a peek at the counter, time has flown by. I am shopping for things as I can afford it. I found some cool black rain boots with little colorful pokadots.

Ever so cute and cheap! I am going to get a turquoise hooded rain jacket from Lands Ends and hopefully a black or turquoise umbrella. It's all about the accessories. I just can't wait to start packing those suit cases.

Crime Stoppers!

The victim:

The perpetrator:

Crime: Murdering afore mentioned by means of drowning.

Results: Next of kin collected on insurance (thanks goodness) and will receive a new phone tomorrow.

Moral: Never be without insurance on your cell phone. You never know when it's going to go for a swim in your coffee cup.

Funeral to be held Wed., March 18th...on next of kin's birthday...Happy Birthday to me!!!

FRIDAY THE 13th

It's raining and cold and it's Friday the 13th. All of my faves!! And as a bonus next week is spring break...one of the perks of working for the school district. Could it get any better? Oh, wait it just did. I ordered my new camera. WooHoo! A Canon Rebel XSi, with a 70-300 zoom. I can not wait to get it. Happy Birthday to me!!! I had told Steve not to get me anything and I would just get myself a camera. I can write it off as a business expense also. The Rebel takes amazing pics and you know I NEED it for my cruise...lol!

Speaking of "my" cruise...It is now 84 days till I leave here to go to Betty and Jackie's in Bellville to spend the night before we fly out of Houston at the crack of dawn on Sat. morning. We will fly to Seattle and have all of Sat. and most of Sun. before our ship sails. We will be having dinner in Seattle with a very special person connected to Deadliest Catch (won't reveal the name till I blog from the ship with pics), but just wanted to give y'all a tease. I was reading on the NCL website and saw that you could pay about $50 to have unlimited sodas for the seven days on the ship. I called my travel agent and he said it is a good deal because my beloved diet cokes would cost about $2.50 each. With the card you get a cool NCL travel cup and unlimited sodas 24/7. I will be purchasing that. Just don't know if I could make it without my diet cokes for a whole week. Better safe than sorry I say.

With this cold, rainy weather my jammies are calling me. Hope there is something good on the TV tonight. Wish it was time to go home. Only a few more hours. Speaking of TV...Deadliest Catch Season 5 is starting Tues., April 14th!! How exciting is that!! Have a great Friday the 13th!

Out of Touch

It was a wild week end. Psycho Cheer Mom (my daughter, Stephanie) was really sick with a bronical infection which was not diganosed at out local emergency room a week ago. So I had to take off Friday and take her into Austin to the emergency room. She would have gone to our local doctor, but if he had put her in the hospital it would have been our local hospital with the missed diganosis. The emergency room doc (very McDreamy) in Austin gave her two breathing treatments and several meds. By Sat. she was much better. She missed a week of work and was misserable because the local emergency room doc couldn't find his butt with both hands...argh!!!

Saturday Janice (BFF in avatar pic with me) and I went to Archiver's in Austin and scrapped from 9:30am till 11:00pm. FUN, fun, fun!!! We laughed so much our sides hurt. All the other attendees said it was the most fun they had ever had at a crop. They were all asking about Thelma and Louise's Scrapbook Retreats and joined our email list and some signed up for the next retreat. Janice and I are in the process of preparing for the April Retreat now. It is always so much fun.

Yesterday (Sun.) I went to the buffet at the Grand Aleutian in Unalaska...in my mind. OMG! the food they serve looks soooo good you can almost taste it. It would be so fun to go and meet all the people I blog with from there and see their world. CB (Dutch Harbor Dirt) is coming to the lower 48 for a vacation and will have a layover in Houston. I asked him to let me know when he will be there and maybe we can have a "Meet and Greet". Sounds like fun. What do you think Hoosier? We can get something together don't you think?

Cruise, Beans and Cornbread, Dutch Harbor

As of today my cruise is paid for. I am broke but it's a done deal. Check another mile stone off the list and get the beans and cornbread to eat till next payday. That's what we say down here when grocery money is running short because beans and cornbread are cheap and go a long way. I myself don't see it as a poor man's food. I love beans and cornbread.

My Tahoe is off to the body shop. I will miss her, but she has to have that butt lift. (I can't believe I forgot to take a picture.) I wish I could get a little nip tuck at the body shop!!

Did y'all see the amazing pics on CB's post on Dutch Harbor Dirt? The man is great with a camera. I am using the first pic of the Northwestern and the eagles as my wall paper right now. Unalaska is a beautiful place. I hope I get to visit there some day. I have it on my bucket list. Here is the pic I like the best on his blog...

If you get a chance go look at his amazing photography. There are also pics of the Northwestern crew for those who watch Deadliest Catch. Wonder what kind of camera he has? I need to ask him. I am still trying to figure out how I can pay for the new camera I want. Like I ask my husband...you wouldn't play golf with inferior clubs would you? Well, pics and scrapbooking are my things and I want the best equipment I can afford. You know I need a zoom while I am in Alaska and for cheerleading and soccer, etc. It's not a want...it's a need.

MASSIVE FIRE IN BASTROP

Sat. after picking Lance up from work for his lunch break (his truck is down again, that's a whole other story), we saw thick smoke coming from the other side of town. It was a brush fire. The winds were blowing 40 miles an hour (very unusual for this part of the country). Luckily our house was out of harm's way, but 29 other homes weren't so lucky and 1,020 acres went up in smoke. We are in the mist of a drought down here and the pines trees went up like roman candles. Fortunately the winds laid down on Sunday and the fire fighters were able to contain the fire. The fire running into the river really helped them get it under control. It was a scary sight. They were able to see it from space and the smoke stretched all the way to the gulf coast. Nature is a powerful force. Right now it is like we are living in a tender box and holding our breath that more fires don't break out. One of the girls I work with was driving behind a man on Monday morning, just down from the fire had been, that flicked a lite cig butt out of his car window right in front of her. Really? Duh! You can't fix stupid!!

Monday, again??

Oh my gosh, where did the week end go? Kenzie's surgery went fine. Like the scrapbooking grandma that I am I took pics of it all. The only trouble we had was keeping her quiet over the week end. She is back at school today with just a slight sore throat. This is TAKS test week at school and she is stressing out over that. So is every student in the Texas school system. The pressure that is put on these children is unbelieveable! Don't get me started on that!


Camille from Ahoy and SailAway (our travel agent) called with the balance on my cruise. WooHoo! One step closer. It will feel good to have everything paid for. Now just saving for the extras... shore excursions and spending money. I am still tweaking my spread sheets. You know I have my whole life on spread sheets. Planning what clothing to pack, what I still need to purchase for the trip, what I need to do before I leave, what time to leave for Bellville to meet up with Betty and Jackie, what time we need to leave for the airport, what we want to see in Seattle during the day and a half we have before boarding...I could go on and on. I was able to pick up some new luggage that I desperatly needed. Zebra, of course. Could I get just black or beige? I think not.