Just. Breathe.

Who am I kidding? The end is here . The end of this goofy blogging experiment, that is. What was I thinking? How do people blog every.single.day? I don't have that many thoughts worth writing about, and the condition of my house proves that it takes me way  too long to do this every day.  But it has been kinda fun, in a weird, pressure-filled kind of way. I'd like to think I've restarted my interest in blogging, and maybe I'll get back to at least a couple of times a week, rather than once a month.  To make up for somewhat bailing on this experiment, I'll go the more traditional route for the rest of Lent and give up something. Let's see...chocolate, sugar, coffee, wine...wow, the vice list just goes on and on... With 23 days left, I believe I will choose...refined sugars! [No, that's not a cheat like saying I'm giving up liver...I've had way too much sugar lately, so this will be good for me.] And for the record, I didn't plan far enough a...

Some things: Stacy Keibler and George Clooney broke up after a couple of years. Stacy is now married and pregnant. How do you handle being the guy  after  George Clooney?  Danica McKellar (Winnie) and Candice Cameron (DJ) are on this season of Dancing With the Stars. I loved   The Wonder Years  and Full House . I could never pick between those two - with or without dancing. And if they'd thrown Topanga into the mix, I'd have had to watch every single episode.  I want this to be my next job. [To be clear - I want to be holding the water hose.] The Malaysian airliner situation just breaks my heart. Whatever happened, I can't imagine how the families of those passengers are coping with not knowing.  There are several families I know who are really struggling right now--a 16-year-old in a car accident who is struggling with recovery, a mom recovering from back surgery, a grandmother with MS who has pneumonia...sometimes it seems so overwhelm...

Almost wordless. This is in a corner of my office. I heard a few weird sounds. Then, this for about 45 minutes. Yes, those are my yoga mats. They were just rolled up standing in the corner. You can't see that the table is tilted toward him. 

I shamelessly stole this from somewhere on the web. As I may have mentioned, I'm done with winter. Done. I've decided that Spring just doesn't know it's her time to shine, so I'm helping.  Sunday it was about 45 and windy, but by golly that grill was going and we had fajitas. See, Spring? We remember you and look forward to your return. Bug and I have been doing a workout series for the last week or so. Today we did the entire thing outside. Take that, Winter. It consisted of about 225 squats. We will not be moving tomorrow, so I won't care what the weather is. Right now, I'm wearing a sundress and NO fuzzy socks. I believe this is the first time my feet have been uncovered for more than 10 minutes since about November.  And I desperately need a pedicure.  I planted my herbs a couple of weeks ago and I've been babying them since. Eventually, they will be so happy and look like this. Let's all join in a chorus "Spring has sprung...

I'm not Irish. And I don't drink beer. And bright green isn't really my color. So why on earth am I doing a St Patrick's Day post? [Ignore the 40 days of blogging pressure, and scraping bottom for ideas...] Because it's a really cool story, that's why! My 10 minutes of research has proven that this Saint Patrick had a very interesting life! Let's look at some of it, shall we? This tradition dates back to around 400 a.d. That's a long freaking time ago, and yet the legend continues! At 16, Patrick was captured by pirates and sold as a slave in Ireland. His owner was a pagan priest of Druidism. He escaped after about six years of slavery. He entered the priesthood in France, and after about 20 years, was allowed to go to Ireland to convert the pagans there. In his years there, he converted thousands to Christianity. He is said to have used the three-leafed shamrock to explain the holy trinity.  The legend that St Patrick banished all the snake...

This. Three rather large dogs, one rope, husband egging them on.  Oh, and notice the fire in the fireplace. In. MARCH. In. TEXAS.  Life right now is approaching ridiculous. 

In the life of this blog, I've mentioned TV shows that I'm watching, or want to watch, or never want to watch, or not sure if I've watched...in a nutshell, I watch too much TV. But it's such cheap entertainment! I don't have to leave my house! I can pretend I'm only going to watch something when I'm on the treadmill, then finish the season on the couch. And now, with Netflix and Amazon and Hulu, I never have to watch more than a few commercials EVER. AGAIN. What's not to love? On that note (and because I'm truly stuck for blogging ideas on this silly Lent idea I had), let's see what TV we can talk about. Current likes : Let's face it: I'm a follower. This list of my top shows will probably read like any other TV fan. Downton Abbey :    Love everything about this show. Oh, except for that killing off main characters without asking my permission thing. And the Daisy/Alfred/Ivy triangle that just annoyed me - but it's likely over ...

Man, Lent lasts a long  time.  For the inquiring minds, some updates on recent happenings: The cable and phone service was restored about 7pm tonight. Total of about 28 hours out. I want a discount on my bill. I used my cell phone as a hot spot all day for work, but for whatever reason I couldn't be talking on the phone and  on the internet at the same time. So much for conference calls where I do a screen share. Discount, AT&T. Cough it up. Jake is still with us. Everyone is adjusting, although the cat is still a little skeptical. The humans are outnumbered, and the females are definitely outnumbered in this house. And anyone who wants to gift me with candles to disguise the smell of dog will be my new best friend. I will never get all the dog hair out of my house again.  The whole weight loss thing is not going well. I'm still being pretty consistent with working out, up until I skipped tonight (I'll do it tomorrow!), but I'm eating crap and the...

This is not going to be about what you think it's going to be about. This is not a request for opinion on the pros/cons of Charter Cable versus AT&T UVerse. But after tomorrow, it might turn into that.  As of this afternoon, we have no Internet or land line phone.  Not by choice. By this: Why am I not filled with confidence? Charter Cable is coming to the neighborhood. They brought signs. And lots of people with spray paint and little flags to clutter up the neighborhood. Apparently the corner of my flowerbed is just a convergence of a whole bunch of lines. They're so powerful they knock the little flags over. Or they knock them outta the guy's hand and he just can't pick them back up. "Today, the entire Eastern Seaboard is alive with talk of incidents of paranormal activity. Alleged ghost sightings and related supernatural occurrences have been reported across the entire Tri-State area." -- name the movie Today I came back from an er...

Winter has almost sucked the life out of my desire to cook anything. Even soups haven't sparked my interest - I just want to sit on the couch under three blankets and pout.  But I made this one a few times. It's easy and I always have the stuff for it, so it's on the short list on those pouting nights. Pizza Soup  adapted from theclothesmakethegirl.com [These quantities make about 6 servings, depending on how hungry you are.] 1 lb ground sausage or links (or season some ground beef or pork with Italian seasonings) 1 package (12 oz) frozen veggies - California blend or broccoli works well 3-4 cups broth - some mix of chicken or beef is fine 1 can (14.5 oz) chopped tomatoes -- fire-roasted, Rotel, or just diced, depending on the heat you like 3-4 teaspoons Penzey's pizza seasoning* Olive oil Brown the sausage in the olive oil. Add the tomatoes and the pizza seasoning and stir. Add the broth and the veggies (they can be frozen or thawed). Bring to a boil, t...

OMG I'm out of ideas for blogs!!! Forty days.... F O R T Y days! How on earth am I going to do this?! [TK, get a grip. Jesus withstood temptation for forty days in the desert...you're talking about blogging. Seriously.] Fine. Let's talk random stuff then. [It's the safe talk of bloggers everywhere. I googled it. It's an officially sanctioned strategy when you have absolutely nothing to say. Expect a lot of this in the next 33 days.] 1. RDub has introduced the fam to a new show -- Arrow . Premise: Spoiled rich kid is stranded on an uncharted island after his yacht sinks, killing his father and sister-of-girlfriend-he-was-cheating-with. Rescued, comes back to right the wrongs his father had done. Oh, and the girlfriend is still around, pissed that her sister is dead AND that he cheated on her, AND their father is the police. He uses...wait for it...arrows (and a hoodie as a disguise). I sound sarcastic, but it's really good. Elliot Queen keeps up the prete...

I named this Part 1 because there's no way there won't be more of these. Today I took part of the day off to go PROM DRESS SHOPPING with the girl.  Moms, if you went to prom, take a moment to thank your mother. Being on this side of the experience was...fun, exhausting, sad, sweet, and a little unbelievable. Where is the baby I just had 5 minutes ago? How is it possible that we're approaching the end of her school years, and college is around the corner? I'm not allowed to show the final dress - that will come when prom is actually here. But here are some of the runners up, with a disclaimer: she wasn't thinking about her hair or the look on her face when I took these! We went to the bridal store first (and I told her she wasn't allowed to shop there again for MANY years). When shopping there, you're basically looking for style and size - they can order most colors. She was pretty set on blue - turquoise/teal/blue-green -- so we took time to find some ...

If you know us personally, you might know that Bug, our daughter, is graduating this year and planning to study Chemistry with a forensic science certification. University of North Texas, here she comes!  Today, at the Sixth Floor Museum in Dallas, the location of the Kennedy assassination, UNT hosted a CSI day for families, and we went to solve the crime. The minimum age of participants was supposed to be eight years old, but I'm pretty sure they weren't checking IDs. Anyway, other than having a slew of girl scouts to work around, it was pretty fun.  We viewed a crime scene, where a bomb had gone off in a casino. We read witness and suspect statements, viewed results of the explosive testings, and compared fingerprints. We got to take our own fingerprints and compare them to the "types" of fingerprint patterns - I'm a "loop" on at least a couple of fingers. Then we checked evidence to see if it was blood (it was). We saw how they analyze pape...

This is the house I grew up in. It was yellow back then. I made a quick trip to my momma's house today for a very important reason - tomorrow is her birthday. I surprised her today when I showed up on her porch with a flower delivery...rang the bell, then appeared behind the bouquet when she answered. [We'll save the "what are you doing answering the door when you can't see who it is?" discussion for later. I watch too much Criminal Minds.] We went shopping at a little boutique in Waco where they sell lovely candles, flavored olive oils, and lots of stuff I don't need.  Stop by if you're ever in town. It's a happy place.  Then we went to lunch, at a place whose name Mom couldn't remember. Yes, seriously. It's "that little place in the shopping center...I'll know it when we get there." For the record, the name is Taqueria #9 on Valley Mills. And it was definitely tasty. My sweet Momma Shrimp, beef, and chicken fa...

Who can resist a title like that? I've gotten scared about posting pictures I come across on the web (hello, Pinterest) because of copyright stuff, but some of these are just too hilarious. Yes, I'm weird.  Fair warning: Seriously.  Funny captions on real photos is one of my favorite things ever. Imagine there's an apostrophe in "Let's." *snort. I always wink back. I laughed harder before I realized she was talking to me. Kittens AND a Harry Potter reference. Perfection. I spend way too much time online, but at least I find things to giggle about. You should, too.  [I also find it funny that I wrote this yesterday so I wouldn't miss a day, and then almost got in bed  tonight before I remembered to publish. No short-term memory.]

This week started a new experience for the family. This is Jake. He's a five-year-old Husky that has belonged to our neighbors. They got transferred and will be in an apartment for too long to keep him. They asked if we wanted him, and we said we'd try to find him a home. He's all over Facebook now, but so far no takers. We brought him home Tuesday afternoon to ensure he wouldn't end up at the pound. But that's not the point.  I'm watching this dog go to the front door and just sit there. "It's been fun, but I'm ready to go home now." It is heartbreaking. He is learning to get along with our dogs, and the cat is trying to tolerate him, but he's obviously confused. He paces, nudges me, and won't eat. It's just so very sad.  I'm sure he'll adjust, but I just don't know how much we're helping. He gets used to us and hopefully before long we find him a home. Then he has to go through it all again -- how is that ...

That's "Lent," not "lint." I'm not blogging for the stuff in my dryer or navel. But I've been sitting this year out on the blogging front, and I'd like to get back into it, so here goes: For the next 40 days, I'm going to post a blog every.single.day.  [I've lost my mind.] That's right, every day I will post something , probably something short, on some random topic. Hold me accountable, people.  Day 1 (or maybe Day 40 if I want to do a countdown): Where Have I Been? She's a brat, I tell ya.  Basically, I've been fighting my inner five-year-old. Read this if you don't know what I'm talking about. I had all these plans to get back on the exercise and right-eating bandwagon, and that little brat just kept interfering. Oh, and so did the weather. Cold makes me cranky and depressed, and the excuses to just sit on the couch and eat chips seem so much more relevant with it's below freezing. And this is in Texas! ...