A Week (or 2) in the Life of Me

Oh gosh, I hope this isn't too boring. It's taken my mom YEARS to figure out why it's not appropriate to call me at 1 o'clock in the afternoon........and I recently left a really long awkwardly embarrassing message on someone's phone about calling me back because I know people don't grasp the concept of my sleep schedule. source A week in my life is full of enough variances to drive most normal people crazy. Since I work 12 hour night shifts that are really 13 hours (if everything goes as planned, given there is no plan because...

Dingbat Redneck Family Vacation

Last weekend I headed to Waco for a Mother/Daughter date over a pedicure and massage, followed by a meet up with a RV full of family members ready to embark on a road trip for Memmaw's 80th birthday celebration.  Equipped with enough snacks to feed an army, and a few fun games to pass the time, we set out on our journey to the Louisiana casinos. Packed like sardines between the rocking chair, walkway lawn chair, couch, and kitchen dinette, we talked over each other so loud between catch phrase and scattergories that passing cars...

Quick Sand: Project Pretty Week 13

Sooo.......I'm still squeezing every ounce I can out of my yoga groupon and it's really starting to pay off. Just last year I was horrible at any exercise involving balance (always the first to wobble and fall over), but I've really been working on improving the strength of my bone hugging muscles, and this week I was a rock-star during balance training. The instructor didn't even have to correct my form on any of the poses; he actually came over to help me progress. I attributed this boost of strength to Jock Jams. (I know this completely...

People Need Our Help

source As many of you know there was an explosion last night in the small town of West, where I attended high school. The magnitude measured in as a 2.1 on the Richter scale, even managing to shake my parents awake in their camper a good distance away. People all over Texas may not even know the little dot on the map by name, but they've all stopped there on one I35 trip or another to taste the Czech's specialty food I speak of often, kolaches. It's a town rich with with culture and tight knit families. A place that's...

It's A Crazy Life

When my husband sends me this text message, "When will I get to read a new blog?", it means a couple things. #1 I've been slacking on holding myself accountable to my non-existent but very real make-believe writing deadlines. #2 He likes to read my blog and that makes me happy (He's not allowed to read drafts or look over my shoulder while I write. Ever. So he lives in a constant state of suspense to read about my interpretation of our every day lives.) I can't even explain how crazy life has seemed this week. Actually I could explain it very well, but my better judgement dictates...

Inhale. Exhale. Repeat. (Project Pretty Week 12)

(Project pretty is a personal commitment to share my weekly journey of keeping my non-New-Year's-Resolution: staying fit to improve quality of life while inspiring others to do the same. Let's all jump on the endorphin wagon!) After an accidental 2 week slumber (I have no idea what happened.......one minute I was laying on the couch with the excuse of resting my IT band/hip flexor, and the next minute it was 2 weeks later......it's as if I was sucked into a wind tunnel time warp) there's nothing more motivating to get my butt back...

More Than Just a Walk

Do you ever stop to look at things the way you did as a kid, just to regain a different perspective? It doesn't matter how many times we take Callie and Sumo to the park, they always have the same eager attitude, look at the big world with similar wonder in their eyes, and never want to go home. There's not anything in particular to do there but run, walk, smell, and look, but those are the same things we enjoyed doing as kids, isn't it? Much more happens on our walks than just holding hands and stretching our legs. Some sort of magical electricity...

We'll See About This

"If you can save lives, you can grow a plant." That's what my mom said to me in the check-out line at Home Depot on Sunday.  Bound and determined for me to inherit the green-thumb of my ancestors, my mom and Nana armed me with the supplies I needed to replace the mud pit corner of my yard with a small garden, and helped me get the roots in the ground.   While Callie hid in the farthest corner, weary from all the chaos, Sumo submerged himself in the middle of the action. His three favorite things in life are hugs, outside,...

Redemption Day

I love being off work on weekend days!! As much as I appreciate the ability to get my errands ran and grocery shopping done while the rest of the world is sitting behind a desk at their 8-5'ers, having the same days off as the rest of my family is especially enjoyable. Actually, even though I thoroughly I love my job, I just love being off work period. My mom and Nana came to visit this weekend. We spend Saturday window shopping at Ikea and Hobby Lobby, taste testing at Costco (or "Costcos" as my family would call it), and getting...