Home Sweet Home and My Weekend Picks

A few weeks ago, I wrote about mine and Cary's competition we have during college football season. It was called "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year" if you want to read it to see what I'm talking about. AND IT'S TIME ladies! I'm posting my picks below so print them out and let the wagerin' begin y'all. Oh and by the way, I'M IN TEXAS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Home sweet home. And I'm not sure I'm leavin' in 2 weeks. I may just stay forever. At least that's how I feel right now. Cary and I can have a long distance marriage right? Granted I'm in San Antonio, which isn't really my home because my mom moved here AFTER I moved to Dallas and got married. BUT IT'S TEXAS nonetheless. Home sweet home for sure. Sorry Sunshine State friends, but this was my home for 32 years. It'll always be home to me. And y'all just thought I came to see friends and family. Well, that's only part of it. You see, football is a RELIGION in Texas. So I'm really here to "practice" my religion.

I just finished stuffing my face with one of the meals that was on my top 10 MUST HAVES in Texas post a few weeks ago. My grandmother made a roast with mashed potatoes, fresh green beans (smothered in good ol' butter and salt...just in case you thought you were eatin somethin healthy) with carrots (also smothered in butter and salt) corn on the cob (also smothered in butter and salt) cornbread (you get the idea) and some ice tea with lemon. OH SISTAS! I ate till I popped and then I ate some more. It was one of those meals that I didn't want to end. I dreaded getting started because I knew I would be full way too soon. If that makes any sense. And I'm about to go take a SCORCHING hot bath in my mom's gigantonormous bath tub and I'm going to just lay and absorb me some relaxation. You see, I'm a bath person. In a big way. And every house Cary and I have ever lived in always had those big jacuzzi bathtubs. And I took a HOT bath EVERY night, and I would sit in the tub for like 30-45 minutes EVERY night. And veg! Cause cleanliness is next to Godliness you know. Well, in our current home, the 60 year old one, there's definitely NO jacuzzi tub and the "hot" water is barely warm on a good day. So my nighttime baths are not exactly relaxing to say the least. So for the next 2 weeks I'm going to live in the lap of luxury. Good food, good friends, aggie football, hot baths, it just don't get any better than that!

And speaking of football...here are my picks. Not so many great games this week. It's mostly non=conference games, lots of no-brainers. So I only made picks on the ones that could possibly be a contest. Or that I cared about. You will notice that Texas and Florida did NOT make the cut. They fall into the "I don't care" category.

Georgia Tech @ Notre Dame....I pick the Irish. Could be a good game though.

Missouri @ Illinois...I pick Missouri. GO BIG 12!!!

Baylor @ TCU...I'm goin out on a limb here. I'm picking the Bears (Ang...Brian would be proud!) Once again, GO BIG 12. And TCU, although ranked #22...OVERRATED! Sorry Audra, my hornfroged friend.

Okie State @Georgia...GEEZ. This one's a tough one. Georgia is ranked #13 and Okie state not ranked but I've heard so much about OSU's offense this year. And I want the Big 12 to shine...so what the heck. I'm pickin' the cowboys of OSU! (although if you want to be safe you should pick Georgia)

Montana WHO @ TEXAS A&M...DUH...NO BRAINER.

Kansas State @Auburn...Another tough one. Auburn is ranked #18. KState not ranked. But I'm expecting some improvement from the Wildcats, those purple people of KS. And GO BIG 12. But I think Auburn will win with a comfortable 15+point margin.

#15 Tennessee @ #12 Cal...One of the few good matchups this week. I'm goin with Cal. Those hippies are tough man! Tennessee...as usual...OVERRATED!

On Monday...Florida State @ Clemson...The Bowden Bowl. Father vs son. Very tough pick. I'm goin with Clemson ONLY b/c of homefield advantage. GREAT atmosphere. But the Florida State Criminals I mean Seminoles probably have more talent.

That's all I got. The rest of the games are blah blah blah vs. blah blah blah so I didn't make picks on them.

Toe Cute

So I got an Aggie Pedicure the other day. How appropriate, Aggie toes in the sand! Get it...Texas Aggies in Florida? heehee. My Aggie toes are a tradition for me. I do this every year during football season. Pretty cute huh? I guess you can say I'm "Aggie from my head to my toes!"

We're Ready to Go to Granny's House!

Packing & Such...

So today I've been feverishly doing laundry and all those other chores that HAVE to be done because they won't get done while I'm gone, I assure you. Someone asked me at church last night, "What's Cary going to do with 2 weeks of free time?" Oh, I bet he'll watch plenty of History and Discovery Channel, you know those shows I HATE and always make him turn the channel. The History Channel is morbid y'all. I know it's all true, but I guess real life is kind of groady sometimes. I have a ton of cute pictures I've taken the last few days and I can't get them on my blog. Long story. Mama has ISSUES. What's new. Camera card needs help. Camera card full. Walmart photo booth not working. Walmart Cheapest. Mama has 200 pictures on camera. Mama take pics on camera hard drive. Hard drive too slow to download to computer. When camera card fixed, mama transfer pics from hard drive to card. THEN...the pics will be on my blog. That's the short version. Got it? I took a cute one today of Ashton. Cary had gotten out the girls' suitcases and they put them in Lexi's room to play with. I walked by her room and Ashton had crawled in and Lexi was zipping her up in the suitcase. Like she was saying, "Okay, I'm ready to go to Granny's house!" And then Daddy told us the story of when his dad was a baby and road from North Carolina to Washington State in a suitcase on a train because his mom couldn't afford to buy him a ticket. And that gave me an idea. I'm kidding!

Okay I'm rambling. I have MAJOR MAJOR MAJOR potty issues today. I think it's anxiety related. And don't laugh. I think it's football tummy y'all. I do! I get it every year during this season every week before the Aggies play. I get so nervous. My heart is beating faster and faster just thinking about it. Football may just be hazardous to my health. 2 more days!!!!!! Lots of packing to do. At least my toenails are ready for the Aggies. Yes, I said toenails. And I don't just mean a pedicure. I mean an AGGIE pedicure of course. Maroon toes with ATM on them in white. It's my football season tradition. I do it every year. And YES, you WILL see pictures of that. I promise. Cause I know you won't be able to sleep till you see my toes.

BACK

See how many times you can spot the word "back" in this post. Last night, Cary planned a date for us with the theme of "back". Well, not intentionally with a theme, but we got to thinkin' about it half way through the night and decided there was a theme to all we had done. He called me yesterday afternoon to tell me to be ready at 6 and to have the girls ready. He had arranged child care and we were going on a DATE! HURRAY! I could hardly wait. So first we went to OutBACK to eat dinner, not because it's like our favorite or anything, but because we had a coupon for a free entree and well, there's just not much else to choose from in this town. You know you're old married farts when you use a coupon on your date. And at dinner we talked about how the Aggies are going to take their opponents BACK behind the woodshed for an old fashion beatin' all year long! WHOOP! Then we went out BACK to the BACK 40, out in the woods, to a park near a big lake and sat in the BACK seat of the car to watch the sunset and watch a movie on the DVD player. He picked a chicky movie with animals because I'm kind of an animal freak like that. But it was a horrible movie, unless you're in the mood for a good cry, which I wasn't..."The Year of The Dog"...don't do it! I'm still recovering! So that kind of BACK fired on him, you know, his plan and all, to get me to make out or something, because I couldn't stop crying over this movie. But nonetheless, still a romantic thought. He had cheesecake in the BACK of the car iced down, popcorn, and my favorite chocolates too. When we got home, I got a BACK massage and then "baby got BACK" if you know what I mean...to use a term from the 90's. And if you're older than 40, you might not know what that means, but I'm sure you can figure it out. And so there you have it...my sweet date! I highly recommend the movie in the BACK of the car thing...very fun! Also a sign of being an old married fart cause only people our age with kids have DVD players in the BACK of their car!

First Day of School- Part 2

If you have not read my "First Day of School" post, you can find the link on the right sidebar so you'll know what I'm referencing to. Ashton's teacher had made a comment about how we needed to "watch her hands" which made my obsessive compulsive brain kick into high gear and gave me yet another reason not to sleep at night as I couldn't stop wondering what in the world she meant by that! Well, now I know!

Yesterday, Cary took the girls to school and he asked her teacher exactly what she meant by that comment and she said that Ashton was hitting a lot. And then I suddenly became THAT PARENT that used to drive me CRAZY as a teacher. I haven't confronted her about it, and I probably won't, but in mind I was thinking, "What do you mean she was hitting, my sweet Ashton would never do such a thing (even though that's SO not true, I mean she has an older sis, need I say more). " And as I immediately became defensive about my child, I had to stop and think, "the teacher is always right, the teacher is always right, the teacher is always right" in order to keep myself from marching down there and telling her if she had better classroom management, then my child wouldn't be hitting. Because we all know my child is PERFECT! And pigs fly!

I've known Ashton to defintely stand her ground. She certainly can hold her own when someone takes something from her or makes her angry. But I've never known her to be a bully or initiate aggression (except with her sister). The ladies in the church nursury have told me that as well. So I'm not sure what happened to cause her to hit, but no matter what, it's not an acceptable behavior. Whether she initiated it or not. And that's the bottom line that I, as a parent, have to keep in my mind. And for all of you that have school aged children or preschool aged children, can I offer you some advice from a former teacher's perspective? ALWAYS have a 24 hour rule when the teacher makes you upset, so as to not make things worse. Wait 24 hours before doing anything about the situation, because God may change your heart and chances are the story has been twisted by your ever so perfect child. And ALWAYS give her the benefit of the doubt because KIDS LIE! Oh, yes they do! And mine will too I'm quite sure. Even though they will know better. When I was a teacher, I used to always say at open house, "If you'll only believe half of what they say about me, I'll only believe half of what they say about you."

Cary had a little comin' to Jesus meetin' with Ashton yesterday before he left her at school. And her teacher said she had a much better day. GEEZ! She's TWO. This is only the beginning. Now her sister on the other hand is so shy at school, I think I might just throw a party if she ever gets in trouble for talking too much. Seriously!

Blissful Euphoria

No, this is not a post about my Aggies, although I will be in blissful euphoria in, oh, about 5 days. I am a happy woman today. My children are at school, my house is CLEAN, you could EAT off my bleachy floors they're so immaculate, my laundry is 2/3 done, my bills are paid, and something yummy to eat is on its way home right this second. Cary went to pick up the girls from school and grab us some lunch. I can't cook today. It's a rule in this house. On the day of a deep cleaning where floors get mopped, WE DO NOT EAT AT HOME! It was one of those bizarre things that Cary discovered after 5 years of marriage that makes me happy...keeping the floors clean for at least 24 hours. Hmmmm...come to think of it...maybe I should mop more often, thus eat out more frequently? No, just kidding. Wishful thinking though. There are few things in life that make me feel this good: A full tummy, knowing I am right with God, anything AGGIE, a clean house, money in the bank, shopping with mom's money, and getting love from any member of my family including the pets. And I think just about all of those things have been covered today, so for now, life is good folks. If only the yard would get mowed and my car get cleaned.

Oh well. I can dream! Hope your day is as blissfully euphoric as mine!

Funny Things and Other Stuff

I don't know why people in this house seem funnier to me today. Maybe the lack of sleep over the backpack is finally getting to me? But here are some funny things that have happened today in our house...

1. Cary just yelled at me from the living room, "Honey, what channel is ESPN?" And I quickly yelled back "206" without hesitation. Call me crazy, but shouldn't the wife be the one that has no clue what channel ESPN is on? We both got a good chuckle out of that one.

2. Lexi was trying to do #2 on the potty, which is a whole other blog entry, and I offered to rub her back to help her relax. So I said, "Maybe if I rub your back it will help you go poopoo. That's what my mommy used to do when I was a little girl." She looked up at me with a puzzled look on her face as if to say, "I've never thought about you being a little girl with a mommy before." So finally she asked, "Who's your mommy?" "Granny," I replied. "Oh, I wish I had a mommy like that," she said. And then I felt like chopped liver!

Also, it is time that I educate you people on something "aggie related". From time to time throughout the season, you will see the words, "Beat the hell outta" whoever the opponent is that week. THIS IS NOT CONSIDERED CUSSING! It is an "aggie thing". We all do it. It's just what we do. Have you ever heard 90,000 people yell "beat the hell outta ___" in unison? It's quite intimidating. I've never posted "Beat the hell outta" on my blog before b/c you know, I'm like a pastor's wife and all. And I'm not a cussing type of person. But when it's in Aggie context, it's just NOT cussing. Trust me. It's just not. But I know every Aggie that visits my site is thinking..."something's missing here. Oh, she didn't put beat the hell outta ____ on her site." So if you're offended by "beat the hell", get over it. It's in my blood. "We are the Aggies, the Aggies are we, true to each other as Aggies can be." And on Saturday, I'm gonna watch my Ags beat the hell outta Montana State!