Vote for the puppy's name

I am having second thoughts about the name Penelope. It is cute, but long. One of the names I really liked when we were trying to choose was Tally. Her middle name is going to be Jean (for Molly Jean). So ... if you look over to the left you'll see a voting box. I need you to vote for Tally Jean or Penelope Jean. If she is Penelope Jean we'll call her P.J. I'll tell you now the boys like PJ best. I like Tally. Jennifer made the voting box for me and although she added Joe -- she voted for Tally (I peeked while she was voting) So help a girl out and place your vote. BTW if you are from Florida you only get to vote once and you have to vote for the name you like best. If you need any more clarification you should contact Al Gore.

Just for fun

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The Perfect Dog

Ok, I bet you all think this going to be about my new puppy. Even though she is darn close to perfect, I want to brag about my Sammy for a minute. We have endured years of what I call "Rottweiler discrimination." People are always scared of him at first because they think he was born to eat small children and stray cats. But just look at this picture. We have had PJ for a mere 48 hours and he is already sharing his food bowl with her. A lot of dogs (regardless of their breed) won't ever share their food bowl. And here my 117-pound Rotty is willingly sharing his chow with a 2.5 pound ball of fur that just invaded his happy home two days ago. Now that is what I call the perfect dog! (P.S. ... just in case my Mom reads this or PJ's breeder reads this ... I already know his fat boy food does not have any nutritional value for a puppy, but she only ate once piece in the time it took him to woof down the rest of it so I think she'll be ok. The bonding experience was worth it!)

Penelope

This is Jollymane's Penelope Jean, aka P.J. She is an 8-week old Shih-Tzu that we brought home today. She weighs 2.5 pounds and is too cute! She is already crate trained, hasn't had a single accident yet, and is already in love with the boys. She follows them around the house like ... well, a little puppy dog! Sammy seems ok with having another dog in the house, but the cats aren't too sure of her yet. I know I am in love already :)

More local sophistication

We pass this place on our way to the local park. I thought I'd share some more of the local sophistication with everyone. What is so special about this place? Well, they sell Western & Rustic Furniture, have a motel in the back (not pictured), and sell RV's. What more could you ask for in one place? Believe it or not ... it gets better! They even have a bridal registry! Yes, if you want to register here you could take care of all of your everyday needs for living in West Texas ... some rustic furniture, an RV for those romantic hunting trips, and a motel for your honeymoon. It doesn't get any better than this, folks!

toomuchrednecktalk

If you looked at my son's comment on my "You might be a redneck" post, you would see that he thinks I have talked about redneck activities too many times on this oh-so-new blog of mine. His comment said, "toomuchrednecktalk" So I thought I would discuss something a little more sophisticated. Let's talk about dining out. I'm not talking about fast food here. I am talking about going out to a restaurant. I thought it would be best to illustrate my thoughts with a few pictures from the fine dining facilities that can be found locally.

For example, this is a "hot spot" if you are just looking for a small bite to eat. It would be a great place to meet someone for a date or if you were on a diet and didn't want a big meal. And don't forget to pick up your tackle gear on your way out!

And here's a great restaurant for breakfast...or lunch...or dinner?!?

And if you were in the mood for something fast:

Last, but not least, here is the restaurant in town to go to! This is the place to go if you want to get dressed up and go out for a dinner party. And do you know what "Mejor Que Nada" means? No? I'll tell you! It means "Better than Nothing". I have heard the food in this restaurant lives up to the name.
Of course, parking is not a problem even on the busiest of nights at El Mejor. If you are a typical Texan with a huge pick-up truck you just park in the back. But according to this sign you can park out front if you are driving a Japanese car, Chinese car, Burro, U.S. compact car, Bike, or Tricycle. How very convenient! All you have to do is use your Good Mexican Common Sense!

You might be a redneck if ...

... you have your very own dirt track in your back yard!

I took a couple of pictures while the boys were out playing on their 4-wheeler yesterday. They just love it! There is a huge field behind our neighborhood. Brian cleared some of it and made a dirt bike/4-wheeler track on it. For those of you who live in Fayetteville ... think about the track on the corner of Stacy Weaver & Ramsey St. (near Burger King). Well, we have a track of our very own right in our back yard. Pretty redneck, if you ask me! But fun too :)

I will try to get someone to take a picture of me on the dirt bike this weekend. It is a little big for me (that's my excuse for what I am about to say anyway) ... and I crashed it a couple of weekends ago. I got a little too confident and decided to go off the track a little. Somehow a huge mesquite bush/tree thing just jumped right out in front of me. Have you ever seen the needles on those things? They are at least 3 inches long and s-h-a-r-p!!! I wasn't wearing a helmet and didn't want my face to get all scratched up so I jumped! Yes, off from the bike! I was so far out in the back that nobody could see me. Good because I wasn't embarrassed. Bad because they didn't know where I was! I had just started pushing it back towards the house when Brian came out on the 4-wheeler to find me. The clutch handle broke and I couldn't get it started. He got it started and rode it back to the house while I rode the boys' 4-wheeler. We have been waiting for a new clutch to come in at the parts store. It should be there today so I am sure I will be out there doing something stupid (and redneck) again this weekend. Stay tuned ...

Seriously

I loved tonight's show! If you would have asked me two years ago what TV shows I watched I would have told you that we sometimes would try to watch Fear Factor. I hardly ever watched anything that wasn't on Nickelodeon or PBS Kids. Now I am absolutely addicted to Grey's Anatomy. Tonight's show made me want to stay up all weekend watching every single episode that was ever on television! I love this show, I love those characters, and if they were real people I would probably become some kind of weird stalker and ask them if they'd be my friends!

My new blog

Hi everyone. I am going to make an attempt at the blog thing so that I can do a better job of keeping in touch with my friends. We have moved many, many times and I have friends all over the place :) I tried to work through myspace but it didn't work out very well because you either have to have an account to view my account (and not everyone wants an account), or I have to make my account public -- which means every single person (even strange people!) on myspace could view my details.

My friend Cherie claims this blogging thing is easy once you get the hang of it. So hopefully I won't screw it up too badly!

We are all enjoying Texas. Brian's job as a 1SG is pretty busy, but he is good at it and we hope it will help him get promoted to SGM. The boys and I are enjoying homeschooling. It gives us lots of time together and lots of time to get outside and explore our new home town. The community here is absolutely perfect for outdoor activities. My only worry is that my boys are going to turn into true Texas rednecks! Their latest favorite activities are 4-wheeling, dirt biking, shooting, hiking, fishing, and getting dirty!