FOR SALE

Hey, you know anyone who wants a house?
It's official and its up for grabs (with a small fee perhaps). Is it normal to feel uneasy about having pictures of my bedroom on the internet? I feel kind of violated. Come on, anyone? I don't think I can keep the house clean for much longer...maybe we'll all move in with my sister until it sells. My kids' sheets and comforters were all washed and beds made about two weeks ago and they haven't been allowed to sleep in them since then...have you ever tried to make a bunk bed? You have to have at least three years experience with Cirque de Soleil. On the upside, my laundry gets done and put away much quicker and everyone is picking up after themselves, with considerably less nagging...a win win for everyone. I love this house...how could anyone walk through it and not want it right away? I did. Come...love my home as much as I have.

Do you ever just feel LOST?

I love LOST. I am totally hooked (even though we don't have cable and we have to watch it Thursday night on the computer, it's still exciting...)
But let me explain something. Just in case you don't watch it, and want to, this is what you can expect:
Imagine that you are super hungry. Like, really hungry and all you want is say, a chocolate bar. Now, just once a week someone comes to you and unwraps a huge, creamy candy bar and offers you a lick. Just a lick...perhaps a tiny nibble. And then they wrap the candy bar and put it away until next week.
That is what it is like.
Dang suspenseful show that just leaves you asking more questions and wanting oh so much more. It's truly a love hate relationship that I love a bit more than I hate.

Outwitted by a five year old...its not as tough as you think...

Do you ever have those moments as a parent that just totally backfire? I have them all the time. I'll start to get upset and then go totally blank mid-threat. I flounder and they smell fear, I panic and most often defer to the default "time-out". It's kind of like if I were to ever get really upset with someone and have a yelling match but I would say really dumb things that didn't make sense and then afterwards think of some really clever and cutting comment...a day late and a dollar short (probably a blessing that I'm a failure at arguments...)
Anyway, tonight I was putting the older girls to bed, rather late. We had friends over while their mother was rendering service elsewhere so they got to stay up and watch a movie (by the way, anyone who knows her, does our cousin Julie not totally remind you of the girl on Honey, I Shrunk the Kids?...in a so blond, beautiful and cool teenager from the late 80's sort of way?)
I took them to do their little "last pit stop potty break before bed" bit. Haley, naturally insisted that she didn't have to go. Me, being the seasoned matriarch that I am, knew that wasn't the case so I persisted. Then, in a fleating moment of assumed wiseness I made a deal with her (this backfires all the time so don't even start...they try to "make deals" with me all the time, they don't really get it.) The conversation went something like this:
Mom:Haley, if you sit on this potty and don't tinckle, you can stay up for five more minutes. But, if you do tinkle then you have to go straight to bed.
(take a moment here to think, "what was she thinking, that sure is a dumb deal...")
5-year old with a bladder of steal: OK!
(she jumps at the chance to outwit, outplay, outlast me.)
This is the part where she sits and giggles, without tinckling for 2 minutes.
Mom's inner dialogue: OK, that's not gonna work...I need her to actually pee.
What Mom says next: OK, I change my deal. If you tinckle right now, I will let you stay up for another five minutes.
[Insert the immediate sound of rushing "water"...and more toothless giggling]

I never had a chance against her bladder and she knew it.

Mom in bondage...

OK, this is the last one, I promise.

Make video montages at onetruemedia.com

just for laughs...

Here are a couple of my favorite little video clips. The dancing car is a classic that my children and I will sit and watch over and over again until we are sure we can copy cat every move. And the second one is the unfortunate humor of being married to an engineer...enjoy.

Make an on-line slide show at onetruemedia.com

YeeHaw and Yipee Ki A!

Is there a better way to spell that? Please, enlighten me, a simple minded Texan...did I say Texan? I suppose I did. After all, I have lived the most years of my life here in the great country, er state of Texas. (Did you know that every morning in Texas, millions of elementary school children say a pledge to the Texas flag directly following the Pledge of Allegiance? I'll admit when I first heard that upon moving here in high school I was creeped out, but now it seems pretty fitting. Texas is pretty cool.)
Let me tell you my favorite thing of all about Texas. March. The Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. It's as huge as Texas itself. We've got cowboys and girls from all over the country and the perttiest livestock you ever saw. The food, my gosh the food. A visit to rodeo just isn't a proper visit without a brisket loaded baked potato, turkey leg, funnel cake and nachos...not to mention fried okra, roasted corn on the cob and ice cream. I believe I wrote about this last year, remember? I saw the Hilary Duff concert with a most diverse group of people.
Anywho, the girls and I asked Clark out on a date last week to go to rodeo and see one of his favorites, Pat Green. As a family of four (paid tickets) we opted for the nosebleed seats. Long story short, Abby's 'apparently recurring vertigo' scored us some primo seats right four rows up from the buckin' bronco/barrel racing chute. They were awesome. The girls rocked out at the concert, our chuck wagon pick won the race and we had ice cream sandwiches. We are going again tomorrow just for the livestock show. I am truly sad to be bidding farewell to my final year of the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. Adios, buckaroo.


Giddyup, Cowgirl.

The Human Shuffleboard...who said kids were no fun?!

This is a test for a new feature to my blogging...live video (well not live, but living, kind of.)

Photo and video editing at onetruemedia.com

Welcome to our home where we are never at a loss for fun things to do.
Did you ever have a desire to break the monotony of an afternoon? This is not an uncommon activity at our house given the amazing space of our front foyer area. It is used for an array of activities including but not limited to modeling, the cat-walk, pulling babies in empty diaper boxes, "ice skating" and the highlight of this particular evening, "human shuffleboard". Clark must miss the days of playing "carrier landing" in college at the Naval Academy. Ask him about it sometime. So come, join us on our hard wood floor and bring your slippery socks.

Sunrise, sunset...

How did I get here?
My husband is asleep downstairs, in our home.
We have a house.
I check on the kids before going to bed.
I feel their cheeks and fix their covers.
The baby's feet are warm, she is sound asleep.
I check the doors and brush my teeth. I look in the mirror...when did I turn 28?..or is it 29?..I forget and have to count the years...do I look 30?
I realize that I'm young but wasn't I just 17 like yesterday?
How did the years pass by without me knowing?
My childhood seems an entire lifetime away...I can't pinpoint where that life ended and made way for the one I am living now...where is the bridge? Life can be so surreal.
How did I get so lucky?