Hope for Tomorrow

There is so much sad news - my heart is just heavy.  The Boston Marathon tragedy just makes me sick to my stomach.  I can't imagine working so hard to qualify for the Boston Marathon...what a personal accomplishment....an iconic race in a historic city on a gorgeous day to run...pushing your body beyond its capacity...hitting the wall....winning the mental challenge to keep going...the finish line is in sight.... to be so close to the finish line...your family is there cheering for you...so proud to watch you realize a dream... and then in an instant that dream is taken away by such unfathomable evil.  Innocent people killed, severely injured, terror, fear...senseless, senseless, senseless.  I saw something that said "If you're trying to defeat the human spirit, marathoners are the wrong group to target."  That is the truth.  Marathoners will persevere.  They will overcome.  That is what they do.

Now, I am watching the late breaking news of the explosion at the Fertilizer Plant in West Texas.  More people hurt.  Injured.  It looks terrible and my heart just goes out to the people involved. 

I do want to say that through all of this...the overwhelming truth I know is that there is so much more good in the world than there is evil.  Our firefighters.  Our police.  Our medics.  Our doctors.  How blessed we are by your service.  Running towards trouble instead of away from it.  Your hearts are golden and your courage is mammoth.  

Now, let's lighten this up a little bit before I start crying.....

Here is some good news:

• Bob and Lana are on heading our way tomorrow!  May be dodging bad weather so prayers for safe travels would be appreciated. 

• Harry has a job interview next Tuesday!  Fingers crossed! 

• I had our carpets professionally cleaned today!  They look awesome!  The technician brought a black light with him to check for pet stains.  If that cat wasn't dead already I would have killed her.  

My hope for tomorrow is that there will be more good news than bad news, more hope than sorrow, more heroes than villains.......more of all the wonderful things.....more love, more peace, more patience, more compassion, more faith, more joy.  

Shoe Shopping

I took Chip shoe shopping yesterday.

I knew going in that it would be a test of patience.  It always is.  That is why Hubby opted to stay home and work on our taxes.  Hubby understands his shoe shopping limits.

You see, Chip and shoes and socks do not get along.  Although, it is mostly the shoe part these days.  The sock issue seems to have abated somewhat this year.

Anyway, we both acknowledged walking into the store that we would have to just take our time and hope we could find the right shoe.

Chip tried on 14 pairs of shoes.

That is FOURTEEN pairs of shoes, people.

As he tried on the 14th pair, he actually made the sign of the cross and pointed a finger up to Heaven like some of Baseball's major league hitters do before getting in the batter's box.

It worked.  Pair number 14 was the winner.

Mission accomplished.  No one was injured.  No one screamed, yelled or cried.  It was a successful shoe shopping outing!

Now, the taxes on the other hand were not as successful.  Hubby took a first run at the taxes I think he might have preferred to be shoe shopping.  Never fun!

Hope your weekend has been enjoyable so far!  Another gorgeous day on tap for our area!

Saturday Celebrations

An easy breezy Saturday morning.  Bliss.  Nothing on the agenda.  Rare indeed.  So what will I do with this wide open space on my calendar?

First, I will wake up at 5:30 a.m. to a quiet house.  Get the coffee brewing, the washing machine churning, drink about three cups of yummy coffee, tidy up the kitchen a little bit, write a blog.

Let me quickly relive a special moment from yesterday.  I attended my 12th and final Bobcat Bash School Carnival.   It was a glorious afternoon.  Sunny and 77 degrees.  Gorgeous.  I worked the ticket booth for about an hour and a half.  It was so fun!  The music was blaring.  The smell of popcorn in the air.  The place was crawling with people...parents, teachers, little kids, big kids, current students, past students.  My Chip ran all over that campus with his buddies.  He was trading water balloon yo-yos, playing games, shopping the bake sale...he had a great time.  It is a wonderful fundraiser for a wonderful school.

And with the rest of this beautiful Saturday....

Harry is taking the ACT test this morning.  He would not eat breakfast.  That is a cardinal rule for test taking.  Don't come in on an empty stomach.  I could not convince him...so I packed him a bag of goldfish and away he went.  Good luck Harry!

I will get the guest room ready for Mer and Grandpa to arrive next week.  Yea!  Yea!  Yea!  Wash some sheets, clean up the craft closet so they can hang a shirt up without tripping over poster board, plastic bins, sparkle glitter and suitcases.  Fluff some pillows.  Maybe even vacuum upstairs.  Plan some meals to feed my parents.  Get my project list updated, dusted off and prioritized.

I am going to work out in the yard.  Cut back stuff, clean out flower beds, clean up leaves, wash off pollen.  I have filled up four big garbage cans for the last three weekends and I will have no trouble doing it today.

I need to get to the store to buy some crickets for Bama the lizard.  Chip will be cleaning out his cage today.

In addition to the household chores I want to mark off my list today, I will also celebrate 22 years of marriage to Hubby.  Twenty two years since we tied the knot in that little church on the top of Monte Sano mountain.  That is a long time.  That is an accomplishment.  We have grown up together.  Started dating when we were 17 and 18 years old.  Dated for over seven years before we were married.  December of this year will mark 30 years since we had our first date.  We have been blessed with two wonderful kids, awesome adventures, travels, laughs, traditions and every day reasons to celebrate.  We have endured sad times, loss, trials, disagreements and problems like every other couple that commits to a long term relationship.  Today, won't be an elaborate celebration of our marriage, but make no mistake about it we are grateful and know that our relationship is definitely something to celebrate.  I would do it all again.  A hundred times over.  I would pick him to go through life with over any other person on the face of the earth.  I can't wait to see what the next twenty two years hold for us!

Should be a great weekend.

To wrap up this Saturday morning post I am going to include this picture of my Chipster.  I run across this picture on my phone every once in a while and it always just cracks me up. We were in a shoe store and Chip was trying to amuse himself.  I turned around and there he stood holding the hand of a headless mannequin.  Just makes me laugh every time.

Enjoy your weekend!

Teenage Theatre Text

This afternoon I get the following text message from Harry:


Harry:  Hey Ma.  Phones got barely any juice left.  Just reminding u that I will be at rehearsal tonight.

Me:  Ok!  Thanks!

Harry:  Oh and I'm gonna miss school most of tomorrow.  The health sciences class is doing like a drill of a school shooting and I'm gonna be a guy shot in the chest....so uhhhh yeah.  Hobby checked me out for my first two periods.

Me:  Yikes!


Geez.  I am not sure I am crazy about my boy participating in a drill of a school shooting, much less that he is going to be fake shot in the chest.  My goodness.  Violent much?   Definitely not a performance I will be interested in watching.  My passionate prayer is that they will be prepared by going through the drill and that they will never, ever have to use it!

Job Hunt

Good morning!  I am taking advantage of a bit of a quiet start to my morning to quickly give Bob and Lana a run down on what is happening in our house!  You know I am all about staying in touch with my folks now that Harry is closer to leaving than staying. Better late than never!

Harry is looking for his first job.  These days, you fill out applications on-line and not in person.  Not very personal, but very efficient.  You can fill out ten applications without leaving your house.  I have just cracked up listening to him read through and fill out the applications.  Some of them have "Terms of Employment" you are supposed to read through and click the box if you accept them. They always have another box that says "I do not accept these terms."  He just cracks up and asks why someone would be filling out the dang application if they wouldn't accept the terms of employment.

The best stuff by far however are the personality type quizzes they have with some applications.  Here is a sample of some of the questions:

1.  If your co-worker was late to work all the time, what would you do?

a.  Tell your supervisor.
b.  Talk to the employee and see if you could brainstorm some ways that they could change their schedule to arrive on time.
c.  Tell the employee that they were making it hard for all the other employees who had to cover for them when they were late.
d.  Do nothing.

2.  If a customer was very angry with the service he had received, what would you do?

a.  Tell them they were getting the same service as everyone else.
b.  Call your supervisor to deal with them.
c.  Apologize for the service and ask what you could do to make their experience better.
d.  Tell them to calm down or you will call security.

So, if you know Harry...he is just reading through them acting them all out in different voices and cracking himself up!  Quite entertaining!

He has also verified multiple times that he is not a Veteran, has not been convicted of a crime, he is permitted to work in the United States and he has absolutely no prior experience to put on any application!

Fingers crossed someone calls and gives the boy his first job!  Good times!

Happy Thursday!

Music Man

The Chipster went to the Middle School this evening to try out all the band instruments and find the one that he wants to play next year!  It was tons of fun and he made a choice...

He tried three instruments and decided to go with the first thing his lips ever touched....the TROMBONE!

The Band Director was so exceptionally nice and talked to Chip about his choice.  I told her that we were Band Boobs and knew nothing about band.  She loaded us up with information and an apology for the first three months of practice that will be done at home!  We are looking forward to the band adventure!  Should be fun!

Bringing Home the Hardware

The A's brought home second place in their baseball tournament this weekend.  First game they won pretty handily, the second game was a barn burner...going into three extra California tie breaker innings.  It was so exciting and they finally pulled out a win.  That took them to the Championship game where they got beat pretty good.  

Second place is so awesome for this young group of boys playing in their first select season!  

Here are some pictures from the day!  

Way to go Team! 

College Visit - Baylor

 College visit Road Trip!!!!  Harry, RV and Thomas, along with their mommas all went up to Baylor's Premier day to check out the Baylor campus.  Free shirts, breakfast and lunch!  Can't beat that! 

The three amigos. Hating the mom with a camera!  Sorry fellas.  Just get used to it. 

The first part of day started in the basketball arena. 

Peggy measuring up against Brittany Griner.  That is one tall girl.  Griner...not Peggy.

The boys found a seat and got ready to pay attention. 

The place was packed and the band was playing.  It was an excellent way to pep start the morning.  The speakers were good and we learned how to do the "Sic'em Bears" cheer!  On the downside, I damn near knocked myself unconscious when I sat down in my seat and cracked heads with the dad behind me.  I think he got it worse than me.  Ow! 

The campus is beautiful. 

We attended two Academic sessions....one for Communications and the other for Journalism.  It seems Sports Broadcasting would fall somewhere between the two.  They did have some interesting technology and labs that we got to tour, but didn't really hold a candle to Arizona State. 

The cafeteria in the boys dormitory was where we decided to eat lunch.  It was huge with tons of choices and lots of good things to eat. It is an all you can eat buffet and the choices were plentiful...roasted chicken, veggies, hamburgers, hotdogs, made to order omelets, biscuits, gravy, waffles, stir fry, salads, soups, chicken fried steak, pizza, enchiladas, you name it.  No problem with eating in this place. 

Harry particularly liked this mammoth cereal bar.  

And also high on his list of things he loved.....the Ramen Eating Contest that was on the Suggestion Board for Dorm challenges.  He would rock that! 

We went to the bookstore. 

The bear pit. 

The Student Center.

Checked out the student mailboxes and post office.  

It really is a pretty campus . 

With lots of cool buildings.  

Martha is a Baylor grad and she was so helpful in pointing out the highlights. 

Isn't that beautiful?

The boys played an imaginary game of racquetball in the student center.  It was awesome with a huge weight room, racquetball, basketball, indoor pool and indoor running track. 

I could totally see Harry as a Baylor Bear, but ASU is still well out in front as his first choice.  Lots of other schools to look at so we will just keep on touring, learning as we go, trying to find the perfect fit for our Harry!  

My Day

I fixed the dishwasher today.
Repaired it with a part that I ordered off the Internet.
It took me a total of 2 minutes and 16 seconds.
I felt like a boss.

I finished three hard things at work today.
Three things that were in my too hard stack.
I hate the too hard stack.
I can now look forward to working tomorrow.

It got cold today.
Jeans and sweatshirt cold.
What the heck?
We were just in flip flops and shorts!

Hubby has been out of town.
He is coming home very shortly.
He was in seven different countries in a 24 hour period.
They included...United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain, Morocco and some others.
Don't look those up on a map.  It may frighten you. It frightened me.
He is on his way to Spain and then home.  Yea!

I am getting serious about these last 15 pounds I need to lose.
Mr. Knowledge challenged me to eat 15 clean meals in a row.
I have eaten seven so far.
I know as soon as I get to 15 he is going to tell me to do 15 more.
15, 15, 15 everywhere.

Another college visit this weekend.
Another baseball tournament this weekend.
Should be fun!

Happy Thursday to you!

Short and Sweet

Not going to call this Speed Round or Top Ten Tidbits...but it is really going to be the same.  Short and sweet.

• Just moments ago, Harry called me from the living room saying "Mom, Darvish is about to pitch a perfect game!  Get in here if you want to see it!"  I walk around the corner, see the people in the crowd just absolutely nervous wrecks as he faces the last batter in the Astros lineup, screaming, cheering for him to do the almost impossible...pitch a perfect game...no walks, no hits, no errors!  I'll be damned if that number nine batter with two outs in the bottom of the ninth didn't hit a single.  I jinxed him!!!!  Love that baseball season is back! 
• Easter was wonderful.  Thanks to the V Family for having us over for a fun afternoon! I am no longer calling that stinking rabbit The Easter Bunny...he is now The Eater Bunny!
• Chip is obsessed with baseball at the moment.  Watching baseball "how to" videos, researching baseball training stuff, hitting 8,000 wiffle balls a day. 
• My refrigerator is eight years old.  It is apparently an antique.  Had a repair man out to see about fixing the ice maker.  It makes ice, it just won't shoot it out the door.  For a cool $408 I can have ice shoot out the door.  That is almost half of what I paid for the fridge new.  We will be opening the door and getting the ice out by hand. 
• Chip took his first STARR test of the year.  It is a standardized test that is pretty hard.  He said it was easy and he loved the snacks!  Cracked me up!   He probably answered Cinnamon Roll for number 13. 
• The yellow pollen junk is back.  My black car is yellow.  Yuck! 
• Bob and Lana are coming for a visit!  Yea! 
• Mr. Knowledge About the Human Body sent me this today.  I think he is telling me to start eating a little cleaner:

Have a wonderful evening and a great Wednesday!