Bringing them to the Dark Side

I'm a bit unconventional...okay a lot unconventional. So in trying to stay above the fray I am always looking for something fun and different for holiday and birthday presents. Plus, I am not above pure bribery to bring the children over to my southern, 80s's rock and country, tex mex loving ways. Last night I took three of the kids to see the Sugarland CMT Country Tour with Little Big Town and Jake Owns. It was an almost three and a half hour event, which ended up in a southern rock version of ZZ Top songs. Awesome!!! Jess and Em are already seasoned concert attendees....now I have brought Tommy along to the dark side. It was fun despite the 26 degree weather...southern country rock does live on!!

A Very Texan Thanksgiving!!!!

For most mid-American, midwestern, god fearing citizens, Thanksgiving is a day of roasted turkey and yams, wearing sweaters and staying warm inside while staring at the cold and snow. For Texans, on the other hand..Thanksgiving means fried turkey, sangria, Dallas Cowboys football, and sunshine and open toed shoes. Actually it was a bit nippier here than it usually is...we wore sweaters and long sleeved shirts. Still, plenty of reason to celebrate with the sangria, fried turkey and family.

We had 12 people who came in from San Francisco, China and Illinois, of course at our dinner. This year we were also entertained by 18 month old Sydney who kept us all on our feet (toes and backs!) enjoying tummy rubs, book readings, and Sydney's first turkey, queso and crawfish! Following tradition we had an early morning visit to Michael's resulting in a full car and the need to return to work so we can earn some more money!

Back at home they had almost snow flurries (actually there were flurries in the Cowboys Stadium here in Irving too!) roasted turkey and a visit to the hospital where my stepmom is recovering (Get Well Ann!).

It's been a wild year..moving several times, a change in job assignments and now a new job and a move too. Yet, it's nice to have family, friends, good foods and good times to remind us of the blessings in our lives. I hope your holidays are full of all of the good things in life!

Closing the circle

My family is not very conventional. I actually like that about them most of the time..especially since I am no longer a teenager whose entire social standing is based upon the embarassment or lack of it caused by our genetic relations. So, anyway, last Friday, we closed the circle (so to speak) of our mother's side of the family.
My brilliant, excentric, exotic, unusual, overbearing Aunt Jo was laid to rest last Friday.
As one of my other aunt's noted, Aunt Jo was a feminist before feminist was cool. She lived larger than life and resembled a bag lady, an professor, a feminist, an aetheist, a budhist and an aristocrat all wrapped up in one. So a conventional visitation and burial would not do. We put our heads together and came up with a celebration of life last Friday. I made a great fall bouquet and put together a unique collage of photos (thanks to my great scrapbooking friends in St. Louis!). I also put together a nice program and invitation. Matthew did his usual great project manager job of working with the funeral home and all of those great admin tasks. Dan and Jim pitched in by going through her things.
Bottom line: we held a fun, interactive and brief service at Holy Cross on Friday followed by a brunch where the Queen loved to hold court...Denny's Restaurant in Bloomington. The skies opened up once we were all safely ensconced in Denny's ...drinking coffee and laughing and talking. The best line of the day was from her friend Jolene who noted she was "outrageous"> Indeed!
In truth, that day was the best gift Josie has given us all in a long time. Josie brought us full circle. Now, let's hope she is not fighting with my mom and grandparents..I hope they're playing checkers and listening to the radio together.

Finally Home

Rita is so happy...and we all know that when Rita is happy..EVERYONE is happy. She stands inside the glass door and looks out at me. She jumps on"her" king sized bed and rolls around. She races up and down the living room.....she looks at me like...Thank Goodness we are HOME, mom..."

Boxes, stuff all around, furniture not in place. Doesn't mean a thing. Rita knows she is at home :-)

Getting Back to (Ab) Normal...in Bloomington!

Fall in Illinois is typically a blissful time. Sunny days but warm....not hot....falling leaves, the smell of cookouts and backyard bonfires. So, this fall has all of the usual fall sensory experiences...and heat of 88-94 degrees per day. Unbelieveable!!

So, of course, we had to move -- AGAIN -- during the heat wave. It was better than last time but still ....hot. And it took 7 hours!!! (I am seriously considering more downsizing...for everything except my scrapbooking supplies of course..)

I'm getting to know the folks at U-Haul on a first name basis and becoming quite adept at maneuvering a truck through through the streets of Bloomington-Normal.

At any rate...we are (mostly) now in one place..a new home where Rita can happily run through the house, sniff the grass in the backyard and look through the door at her mama.

Sunday Morning

Today was one of those rare days at home. The morning started a little cool, slightly sunny, leaving starting to turn, light breeze...I love autumn!

It was a PERFECT Autumn Sunday morning:
- a pot of coffee made with my usual mix of Starbucks, Kroger Columbia and Vanilla with creme' brulee' creamer.
- The Sunday Pantagraph, the Chicago Tribune and tons of flyers
- The door open, watching the neighborhood walk by
- Rita sleeping on her pink leopard blanket behind my knees
- a day of football behind us and one more on the horizon

We need more of these sleepy, sunny Sundays ...really relaxing, recharging and enjoying life!!

The Front Porch Fly Catching Dog

The past month has flown....or rather not since the heat wave dragging most of the country down (except Texas which is drowning...I think that is the Alamo that just floated past us on the Illinois River...). So the month has flown as fast as it can in 98 degree weather with a 105 heat index. For like 20 days straight. (And yes, people still ask me how I made it in Texas....good lord people even Texas has ice tea, beer and air conditioning....!!).

Anyway..I digress. With all of our changes we had some time this summer to experience the joys of the front porch and neighborhood coffee. Shella and I had long ago discovered how much we loved to drink our coffee together on the decks. But it is hot and sunny even at 7 a.m. in the summer so that wasn't working. During our garage sale planning we discovered we could drag our lawn chairs outside in front and have our coffee out there. Rita loved hanging out with her peeps and we all chatted, drank coffee (or diet pepsi) and scanned the garage sale ads.

During this blissful time we discovered a special talent of Rita's....Rita is a fly hunting maniac. She has a laser gaze which can apparently work for things other than treats. She will stare down a fly until it gets close enough and then -- I kid you not -- jump in the air with jaws that would frighten that ole shark Jaws himself. Then she chews the fly and licks her lips satisfyingly.

She does not have so many flies at the new place. But I know if things ever get tough we can count on Rita to be a fly catcher and bring home the ...er...flies.