Wordless Wednesday -- One Week Later

Missed Calls

I just love chatting on the phone. I love talking to my family and friends. I love it so much that I intentionally limit my phone talking because I could easily neglect every other thing that needs to get done, including talking to my kids. Well, I couldn't really neglect that, but I definitely could neglect the homework, cooking, cleaning, etc. You know what I mean. I love talking on the phone, but I do not love it more than living my real, inside my house, inside my car, in my backyard, in the moment life. One of my biggest pet peeves is watching people drop off/pick up their kids at school and they are talking nonstop on their cell phones. You just spent 7 hours away from your kid .... talk to him!!! And another thing about phones ... if you called me and didn't leave me a message I am not going to call you back. I have caller ID on my home phone and my cell phone, but the only thing I use it for is to look up your number if I want to call you. To me a missed call says, "I called to chat but you weren't home so I didn't leave a message and it wasn't really important enough to have you call me back." And there's nothing wrong with that!! If I call you to chat and don't need you to call me back I won't leave a message either. But if I need you to call me back I will leave you a message. So please don't think I am rude if I didn't answer your missed call. If you want to talk to me, call again or leave me a message. If you don't like leaving messages, send me a text. I will answer that too. Eventually. I am not always good about bringing my cell phone into the house from the car. But that is a whole different issue!

(PS This is not aimed at anyone in particular. I hardly ever look at my caller ID so if you are one of my recent missed calls ... I don't even know it!)

Baby Shower -- Army Style

Last weekend we went to a co-ed/family baby shower hosted by DJ and Karl (one of the drill sergeants Brian works with) They sure knows how to throw a fun baby shower. There was food. Tons of food. There were games for the women. There were games for the kids. There was a pinata. Oh, and there was liquor. Lots and lots of liquor! The baby we were celebrating is the soon to be born son of Drill Sergeant Hudson and his wife.

This is Marisol, the so cute and tiny it makes me jealous even though I'm not pregnant mother to be.

Here's Hudson trying to get Drill Sergeant Furman to drink a shot "to the health of his baby!" The choices ... a jello shot or tequila. Guess which one I chose? Yep, tequila. The best tequila I have ever had. It was too smooth. It was too yummy. It was right there ready for us about 5 minutes later when we drank again "to the longevity of their marriage!" Oh, what a fun baby shower!


Here's Kenny taking a whack at the pinata.

And this is Hudson tackling Chase as he scrambled for Candy.


This is Drill Sergeant Furman's husband Matt. She accidentally locked her keys in the car so he spent a little while trying to break into it. What an interesting baby shower.

Brian and I had to leave early because the shower was the day before his big race last weekend and he had a mandatory meeting/packet pick-up/bike inspection. The shower started at 2:00 and we left around 5:00. Apparently the party went until after 2:00 the next morning. There was lots of drinking, dancing, eating, and tricking the new 2nd lieutenant into doing shots of tequila while everyone else did shots of water. I have never been to a baby shower like this one before. I don't know exactly what time the Starrs left, but as they were leaving Jennifer's daughter Ashlyn asked her, "Mama, is this what all baby shower's are like?" I don't remember how Jennifer said she answered her, but if my kid asked me that I'd tell him that's only what Army baby showers are like. The rest of the world just doesn't know how to do it!

My Clean Car

Check out this great gift my friend Joanna sent me. I can get my entire day's worth of water in one cup. One huge cup that she says will keep my drink cold all day without sweating all over my schoolwork. It's great and I love it! Yesterday the boys were so interested in my new cup that they wanted to fill it up with water to take in the car when we went to pick up our pizza. Chase is at that wonderful age where he is old enough to send in to pick up the pizza and young enough that he doesn't mind doing it. So while he went in to get our pizza I decided to check out my new cup a little bit. I noticed it is really supposed to be a coffee mug so I figured the top would come off easily and without any spilling. People put hot coffee in these things, right? So, holding the cup in my lap I pulled off the top and WHOOSH! water ... everywhere! I can't even tell you how much water sprayed everywhere ... maybe 32 of the 64 ounces that Kenny put in there when he filled it to the brim for our 4 minute drive to the pizza place. About half of it went in my lap and in between my legs, so it looked like I had an accident in my jeans. The other half did a really good job of cleaning 9 months of dust off from my console and dashboard. My car looks cleaner than it has since Brian bought me a detail job at the car wash for my birthday last summer. Kenny was a little shocked that his mom just laughed and laughed when it happened. I think he thought I was going to be mad. But how can your be mad when your seat is filled with cold water?!? It was definitely more funny than anything else. Thanks Joanna Lee ... for the great new water cup and a clean car! :) We have decided to make it our family goal to send you something really Texas-ish as a thank-you. It might take us a while because we want to be creative. Maybe Dave & Maggie would like some fresh cow hooves? Just kidding (sort-of)

Friday's Feast

Appetizer
Name something you would categorize as weird.
Al

Soup
What color was the last piece of food you ate?
brown (pancakes)

Salad
On a scale of 1-10 with 10 being highest, how much do you enjoy being alone?
today 10, usually about a 5

Main Course
Fill in the blank: I will ____ vote for _____ in ___.
I will definitely vote for a new president in 2008.

Dessert
Describe your sleeping habits.
I go to bed fairly early. Brian gets up for work early and we almost always try to go to bed at the same time. Then I sleep all night long without waking up for anything -- Brian says he wakes up to use the bathroom a few times a night, staff duty calls a few times a week with problem soldiers, and apparently we occasionally have tornadoes. Yep, I sleep through just about everything. Brian gets up at 5:20 (4:20 on Tuesdays) and turns the bathroom light on for me so that I start waking up. I am out of bed by 5:45 and start the daily race to get everything done.

Do you feel like you know me better now?

Wordless Wednesday -- Our New Neighbors

Ironhead Striders Duathlon

Yesterday Brian participated in the 15th annual Ironhead Striders Duathlon. It was an 8 km run, 74 km bike, 8 km run. This is from the website:

USAT Duathlon Long Course World Qualifier & '08 SMW Regional Championship The oldest Duathlon in Texas in it's 15th year is BOTH the SMW Regional Championship and a qualifier for the World's Championship. This year the long course is the USAT National Long Course qualifier for the ITU World Championships in Duathlon. Two events: Long Course: 8km run-74km bike-8km run or the Sprint: 5km run- 18.6 mile bike-5 km run. All entrants receive a custom dri-fit event t-shirt. Bike course is flat to rolling but very fast with virtually no traffic and run courses are off road and
use the famous "Dirt Road from Hell". Twice voted the best duathlon in the South Midwest. New Race Distances: 8km run-74km bike-8km run or 5km run 30 km bike-5 km run. Also a 2008 USAT National Long Course World Qualifier and the Regional Duathlon Championship.

Race time was really early in the morning so the boys and I didn't go out until about two hours after it started. There were two courses -- the long course and the short course. When we got there most of the short course racers were finished, but we were early enough to watch Brian's last transition from bike to run and to see him finish the race.

Here's Brian coming in from the 74 km bike. They had to stop before the red carpet and then walk their bikes to the transition point.



Here's Brian's bike hanging up at the transition point. His was the 12th bike in out of about 145 participants.


Here he is taking off for the last leg of the race -- the second 8 km run. The run is on a dirt road run and it's nickname is the "Dirt Road from Hell"


We knew that once he left for the run we'd have about 30 minutes to wait for his finish so the boys stayed busy climbing trees while I enjoyed the sunshine and scenery (about 200 very athletic looking people!!)

Here's Brian finishing the race. The clock says 3 hrs, 20 minutes, and 30 seconds, but his official results say 3:25:31. I am not sure where the extra 5 minutes and 1 second came from but Brian said that his watch said 3:25 also so I am just going to assume they know what they are doing at these USA official Triathlon sanctioned events.

If you go to the link for his official results you can see that he placed 10th overall. He was 2nd in his age group. He was happy with his race and I would be proud of him regardless of where he came in. But I do want to mention that Brian was up against American pro trithlete Mike Lovato (he got 1st place) and special invite Patrick Schuster. If you are really interested in Brian's stats and the times for each individual leg of the race click here.

PS If you can ignore all of the temporary race stuff that is pictures throughout my photos, you can see the nice spot near the lake where we like to go camping. Just imagine it without the orange fences & cones.

My How Time Flies!

This is a picture of my cousins Emily & Abigail. Abby is the one holding the baby. Oh, and that baby is Chase. It seems like this picture was just taken last week. Sometimes I can't believe how fast time goes by. I can remember when Chase was a baby and people would tell me to cherish every day because it goes by too quickly. But then no matter how hard you try to enjoy every single moment, all of a sudden you look up and your kid is about to go to middle school. I don't even know how that happens!! Here I am sitting around sad because Chase is about to go to middle school and my Aunt Kathy is dealing with something even bigger .... prom, graduation, first serious boyfriend, and college. Here are some pictures of my beautiful cousin Abby that were taken on Saturday. My how time flies!

Friday's Feast (a day late)

Appetizer
Name a color you find soothing.

blue

Soup
Using 20 or less words, describe your first driving experience.

The day my mom grew 99% of her gray hair.

Salad
What material is your favorite item of clothing made out of?

cotton

Main Course
Who is a great singer or musician who, if they were to come to your town for a concert, you would spend the night outside waiting for tickets to see?

James Taylor (but I don't think I'd have to)

Dessert
What is the most frequent letter of the alphabet in your whole name (first, middle, maiden, last, etc.)?

3A's
3L's
3M's

Priorities

I think it is amazing how much homework I can get done when I have housework to do. Or better yet, how much housework I can get done when I have homework to do.

But the best thing is ... the quality of daytime television really improves when I have homework and housework that needs to be done. I don't know how that happens.

Wordless Wednesday -- Summer Vacation Here We Come!

We finally bought our plane tickets yesterday. Thanks to THIS, we only spent $41/person. We'll be in NY on June 13 if anyone feels like meeting us there :)

My Crying Machine

I got this card in the mail last week from my friend Joanna. I think it pretty much sums up how we women spend most of our days feeling ... with a little bit of comedy on the side. Do you remember my New Year's Resolution? It was to walk 400 miles in 2008. I don't count anything that I walk unless it is an intentional walk for exercise or walking the dogs. I don't wear a pedometer and count the steps I take all day long. If that were the case I think I'd be done already! I made it to 40 miles in January. Then I spent all of February and March so sick that I think I walked 4 miles in those two months combined. Now I am healthy again and back on the trail. I am up to 68 miles, but I have some catching up to do if I am going to make it to 400 by the end of the year. I have some things to dread look forward to in the coming months. Things like the Army Ball and bathing suit season. Hopefully getting back on my walking path will help me get ready for these horrible highly anticipated events. Do you have any other ideas for me? Any great tricks that will melt my layer of hibernation fat off from me before I venture out into public wearing less than a snowsuit? What are you doing to get ready for summertime?

Kappa Delta Pi

Last night was my honor society induction/dinner. I thought I would use this opportunity to introduce you to some of my friends from the college. From left to right -- Kaylin, Chasidy, Dwenette and me. All three of them are all Texans, but don't hold it against them. Kaylin is only 20 years old and thinks the rest of us have one foot in the nursing home. In spite of that, she is very smart and sweet and is going to be a great teacher. Chasidy is one of my reading professors. Yes, she's younger than me. By five years. She was an elementary school teacher for several years and just started teaching at the college this year. She is a great teacher and we just love her. We can't wait to be finished with her classes so that she can be guilt free about being friends with us. Dwenette has got to be the funniest person I have ever met. I enjoy taking classes with her because there's never a dull moment. On top of that she's extremely intelligent, despite the fact that she lives in Sweetwater. Remember Sweetwater? Don't hold that against her either. She's going to be a wonderful teacher and will do great things for the kids of Sweetwater.

This is my friend Chelsea. She's all of 21 years old. She is very smart, a really hard worker and oh-so-organized. If we ever have to do a project with partners I am right there next to her saying "pick me, pick me!" Everyone think good thoughts about Chelsea and let's hope her boyfriend Casey makes it onto the fire department this year. We're sure he'll propose once he makes it ... you know how guys are about wanting to be able to financially support their wives. Go Casey!!

Can you tell how much Dwenette loves me? She is so sweet :) Just don't ask her about the mortifyingly (is that a word?) embarrassing thing that I did last night.... so bad that I can't even begin to type about it. If you want to hear the story you'll have to call or send me a personal email. Because I just can't bring myself to put it out here on the WWW for everyone in the world to read about it. D~ you can stop laughing now ... I don't want you to pee in your pants.

*A special note* I am sitting here in the computer lab on campus with Dwenette ... and she has informed me that she is not a Texan. She was actually born in California. I knew there was a reason we got along so well. We like to poke fun at our tiny Texas towns together. Now we need to get back to work!

Enough Already!

Statement as of 12:50 PM CDT on April 10, 2008
... Public information statement... ... NWS damage survey finds damage consistent with a weak tornado on the west side of San Angelo that occurred during the early morning hours of April 10... A damage assessment was conducted by personnel from the National Weather Service in San Angelo... investigating damage which occured just after midnight on Thursday April 10 on the west side of the city of San Angelo near Arden Road and Glenna street. The survey team determined that the damage on the west side of San Angelo was produced by a weak tornado... rated EF1... with estimated winds around 90 mph and a 150 yard wide path. The tornado caused extensive damage to a metal building... overturned a tractor trailer... and blew over trees and power poles. This tornado was embedded in a line of severe thunderstorms that moved across west central Texas late Wednesday night and early Thursday morning between 11 PM and 3 am... producing large hail and damaging winds. Straight line wind damage was reported in several communities... including Buffalo Gap... Wall... San Angelo... Doole... Coleman... and Brownwood. Additional details are contained in the local storm report product... lbblsrsjt. An additional survey will be conducted in the Brownwood area later this afternoon. National Weather Service7654 Knickerbocker RoadSan Angelo Texas

As if we don't have enough going on here already!!!!

Wordless Wednesday -- Only in Texas!

Thoughts of a Dog

"That little brown dog is gone somewhere with that fat gray cat. I bet I can get away with some fun of my own without them interrupting me."

"Her brand new duck sure looks tasty."

"I bet she won't notice if I just chew on it a little bit."

"Boy, that was good!"

"I feel so happy!"

"Maybe I better get rid of the evidence. I'll clean the duck parts off from my feet."

"Uh-oh, that tall brown haired lady sure is looking at me funny."

"This sure is making me feel a little anxious. I wonder if I am in trouble."

"Maybe if I go back to the couch they won't know it was me."

Poor little Penelope ... she didn't even know what had happened!

The Results

Mandy brought it to my attention that I didn't mention who the winner of yesterday's race was. It was Carl Edwards. And if anyone cares, here are the rest of the race statistics.

Samsung 500
Lap length: 1.5 miles(Start position in parentheses)

1. (2) Carl Edwards, Ford
2. (5) Jimmie Johnson, Chevrolet (Kenny's favorite driver)
3. (3) Kyle Busch, Toyota (Austin's favorite driver)
4. (4) Ryan Newman, Dodge
5. (14) Denny Hamlin, Toyota
6. (35) Jeff Burton, Chevrolet
7. (24) Tony Stewart, Toyota
8. (31) Mark Martin, Chevrolet
9. (8) Matt Kenseth, Ford
10. (25) Clint Bowyer
11. (21) Kevin Harvick, Chevrolet
12. (1) Dale Earnhardt Jr., Chevrolet
13. (7) David Ragan, Ford
14. (32) Jamie McMurray, Ford
15. (41) David Gilliland, Ford
16. (36) Brian Vickers, Toyota
17. (19) Paul Menard, Chevrolet
18. (38) Travis Kvapil, Ford
19. (11) Juan Pablo Montoya, Dodge
20. (30) Bobby Labonte, Dodge (Mathew's favorite driver)
21. (29) Dave Blaney, Toyota
22. (22) Casey Mears, Chevrolet
23. (23) Kurt Busch, Dodge
24. (42) Reed Sorenson, Dodge
25. (10) Kasey Kahne, Dodge
26. (26) Elliott Sadler, Dodge
27. (13) Scott Riggs, Chevrolet
28. (27) Patrick Carpentier, Dodge
29. (9) Mike Skinner, Toyota
30. (15) Robby Gordon, Dodge
31. (20) Michael Waltrip, Toyota
32. (17) Sam Hornish Jr., Dodge
33. (40) Michael McDowell, Toyota
34. (28) Bill Elliott, Ford
35. (34) Regan Smith, Chevrolet
36. (12) Martin Truex Jr., Chevrolet
37. (43) Joe Nemechek, Chevrolet
38. (39) Jeremy Mayfield, Chevrolet
39. (16) Greg Biffle, Ford

These four finished, but have an explanation as to their poor finish:

40. (37) John Andretti, Chevrolet, suspension
41. (6) David Reutimann, Toyota, engine
42. (33) J.J. Yeley, Toyota, accident
43. (18) Jeff Gordon, Chevrolet, accident (Chase's favorite driver)

Race statistics
Average Speed of Race Winner: 144.814 mph
Time of Race: 3 hours, 30 minutes, 41 seconds
Margin of Victory: .399 Seconds.
Caution Flags: Six for 27 laps.
Lead Changes: 16 among six drivers.

Lap Leaders: D.Earnhardt Jr. 1-13; Ky.Busch 14-29; C.Edwards 30; D.Earnhardt Jr. 31-47; J.Johnson 48-83; D.Earnhardt Jr. 84; M.Truex Jr. 85-86; J.Johnson 87-110; M.Kenseth 111-132; J.Johnson 133; M.Kenseth 134-176; J.Johnson 177; M.Kenseth 178-180; Ky.Busch 181-214; C.Edwards 215-229; J. Johnson 230-232; C.Edwards 233-339.

Top 12 in Points: 1. J.Burton, 1,065. 2. K.Harvick, 1,006. 3. Ky.Busch, 1,001. 4. D.Earnhardt Jr., 978. 5. T.Stewart, 957. 6. J.Johnson, 921. 7. D.Hamlin, 913. 8. R.Newman, 901. 9. G.Biffle, 901. 10. C.Edwards, 881. 11 C.Bowyer, 874. 12. K.Kahne, 874.

Nascar Sandwich

Definition of a Nascar Sandwich: Driving 5 hours in the morning, watching Nascar for 6 hours, then driving 6 hours in the evening because the hotels within 100 miles of the race all cost $200/night!

Yesterday was the Samsung 500 at the Texas Motor Speedway. Brian and I took Chase and Kenny and their friends Austin and Mathew to the race. Our two families bought tickets together, but Austin & Matt's dad had to go out of town unexpectedly so Brian & I volunteered to take all of the boys so that their mom could have a day at home with their daughter Hayley (who has absolutely no desire to watch cars drive in a circle for 5 hours). The drive up was pretty uneventful and the kids were really well-behaved:

The weather was perfect, the traffic wasn't too bad, and the boys were excited. Heck, I was too. Here are the boys before the race started:

And here they are when everything was just getting started:



Just before the race starts all of the drivers are introduced and the people cheer/boo as loud as they can while the drivers go around the track and wave to the fans:

Then they all drive around the track a couple of times. I was thinking, "This isn't too loud. I might not need my earplugs. Watch this 10-second video:

Then all of a sudden the real race started. Oh my goodness ... it was LOUD!

The boys wore their ear protection all day long. They look so cool and so cute at the same time:

My friend Elaine (from high school!) was in Texas on business so I called her and invited her to meet us there. Notice we are already sunburned and we are wearing our earplugs. So we protected our ears, but not our skin:

She is great with the boys. They just love her!!

Here's a picture of the six of us at the track:

Here's Brian & Chase's favorite driver:



Here are some pictures for pure entertainment:

What is this guy doing?!? Do you think he bought that? Found it? Brought it from home? I have no idea. This was my first race. So if someone else out there knows the answer, please comment and let me know.

This is the typical drunk guy. We have no idea who he was cheering for. All he did was drink, smoke, yell, and get sunburned all day long:



Here is the guy who had a little trouble getting out of the parking lot. I can't even tell you how many cars we saw that looked exactly like this:



Here's another thing we saw a few times too many. This guy ran ahead of the traffic on the way out of the racetrack, ran into the woods to hide from view (see how well it worked?), went pee, and ran back to his car:

The entire day was fun and exciting. Although the traffic was a little bit worse leaving the track than it had been getting there, the drive home was just as uneventful as the drive there:

We left the house at 6 am and got home at 11 pm. That is what I call a Nascar Sandwich!