House WORK!

It's a beautiful Saturday morning and I want to play outside, work in the yard. Something, anything but...NO I must do housework. I have been avoiding it for sometime now. I had 6 light bulbs that were burned out in the kitchen, living room and hallway. When I replaced those this morning , oh my goodness I saw the dust. It is everywhere. You see, my street has been under construction since April. That's 6 months of a dirt road, complete with a backhoe that literally sat in my front yard for almost a month. They are almost finished with the construction, all that remains is to put our grass back in. But all that dirt from the street has traveled into my house. So today is the day. I went to Target and bought a new mop and I am going to clean this floor. I have forgotten what color it really is. I better get a move on because My Violet Girl is coming over and when she gets here the cleaning will cease. No time for that when the girl is in the house! And today we have a surprise for her. Aunt Jaley & Jawjie bought her a pair of Cinderella Twinkle Slippers from the Disney Store. They are adorable. They even have light up heels. Can't wait to see our little Princess wearing them. But for now, I am Cinderella and I gotta get to work!

Favorite Quotes

This is one of my favorite quotes of all time.

"Walk with God, and you cannot mistake the road. You have infallible wisdom to direct you, permanent love to comfort you, and eternal power to defend you." ~Charles Spurgeon, 1834-1892

Wow! Isn't that profound? Just reading it makes me feel better. I keep a copy of it on my message board above my desk at work and read it from time to time. It clearly spells out God's devotion to us and soothes my soul. We are not alone. We have guidance, love and power. And a Defender. See... don't you feel better already?

Blisters and the East Coast Swing!

Ok, it is official... I am a dancer. Ha ha! Is that a laugh or what? Well, I do have blisters and I am wearing Violet's 'Hello Kitty' bandaids.

Jeff and I have been practicing our steps, what a hoot. Jaley's friend, Zack was over last night when we were 'waltzing' around the living room and I asked him how we were doing? He said, "at what?" looking shyly at the ground. I said, "dancing." Then he looked up and said, "Oh, I thought ya'll were doing something I wasn't suppose to be watching." It cracked me up! Then he said, "not too bad." I think he might be 'fibbing'. Tonight we are taking a group class on the East Coast Swing. I am really excited. Then another Swing class on Friday. Yikes! I hope we can keep this up.

My Twinkle Toes...

Hurt!

Darn, darn, double darn, dang! Gee whiz, golly bust, goose devil, dang! Darn, darn . . . dang!

Violet Spends the Night

Our grandgirl finally got to spend the night without her Mommy. She was such a good girl. GiGi (that's me) bought her a ball pit with 175 balls! She loved it. We played and ate Cheetos and then played and ate Cheetos again. Grandpa took her out to play in the rain for a bit, she loved that too. Her Grandma K bought her some rain boots and she wore them. Adorable. On Sunday we took her to eat at Captain D's for lunch. We would eat at Cap'n D's almost every Sunday after church when the girls were growing up. It was a fun walk down memory lane with our new little girl. Can't wait until next time.
PS-Aunt Jaley says that NO house should have 175+ balls in it! It was her job to pick them all up. Jaley is a good aunt. :)

Puttin' on our Dancing Shoes

That's right. Jeff and I took our first group dance class last night, the Waltz. We will take our first private lesson on Monday. It was such fun, not that we were any good. It was just so much fun to watch all those folks dancing. I mean really dancing. We want to be able to do that too. And boy, it was a work out. Today, we will be checking around to see if we can get some real dancing shoes. Apparently, you gotta have 'em. We have been looking for a new hobby or something. You know we are pretty much 'empty nesters' these days. So we are rediscovering a life without children. So far, it has been fun! I'll let you know how we are doing in the days and weeks ahead.

Play some Stevie Ray, Man!

Jeff and I love Blues music. We don't often get the opportunity to go and listen to any live, but Saturday night we did just that. We hit a couple of joints, and finally found our nitch at this little place in Northside. We heard James Hinkle, a Fort Worth native. He was really good. We had fun with some crazy folks sitting next to us. The woman was quite intoxicated and kept yelling all night, "play some Stevie Ray, Man". (I think that there has been a theme all weekend of me sitting by drunk women... what's up with that?)

Yesterday we made some tentative plans to try and go to the El Dorado MusicFest in Arkansas later this month. Our absolute favorite (living) guitarist will be playing there, Kenny Wayne Shepard! Kenny's voice is not what you hear on his CDs, he is a guitar prodigy! FYI: He's married to Mel Gibson's only daughter.

Try a little Blues, it's good for your soul.

Rangers vs Red Sox

Last night Jeff and I went to the Ranger game. We had great seats! This was the 3rd time this summer that we had been given almost the same seats by 3 different people. 3rd row, behind 3rd base. Lovely. The first time, there was a guy that stripped and jumped the fence right in front of us and paraded across the field until he slipped and fell down in center field.

Last night the stadium was full of Boston fans. It was kinda weird when the chanting would begin... Let's go .. Rangers, because it would soon become, Let's go .. Red Sox. They just took over. Rangers lost, but weren't quite skunked. However, it was probably the most fun we have had at a game in quite some time. Even trumped the streaker. One reason was because these two girls (13 years old) were at the game and set between me and the couple to my left. We were in a very small section only 6 seats wide. So you kinda got to know everyone right away. Anyhow, these two girls seemed out of place, hadn't ever been to a game before. They didn't understand how to tell score, etc. So, we were helping them along, reminding them that many fouls fly through our section and to stay prepared, etc. Soon they grew bored and left. One funny thing about the girls is when they asked why everyone would cheer when the Rangers made a mistake. I told her that the stadium was full of Boston fans and that they were cheering the Red Sox not the Rangers. She said, "Oh, isn't Boston a really far drive to come to a game?" Everyone on the row started laughing. They were too cute.

Over the course of the next few innings friends of the people sitting behind us came and went, 'borrowing' the girls seats from time to time. During the 8th inning 2 women showed up and settled down in the seats behind the seats the girls had previously occupied. We we all curious about why they would arrive at the game so late. They were fun and well... inebriated and chatted up with everyone. They said they had been to the bar upstairs and had no idea that they had almost missed the entire game. They began flirting and cutting up with everyone in our section, they were fun and we wished they had been there the whole time. Perhaps they wouldn't have been as much fun sober, but maybe. Anyhow one of the women asked about all the Red Sox cheering and we told her the same story we had told the girls. She said "Wow, isn't Boston to Arlington a really far to drive to watch a game.?" We all laughed and then suddenly it dawned on me and I said, "Hey are you related to the two girls that were sitting here earlier?" About that time the two girls showed up. Yep, they were the moms of the little teenie boppers.

She said they were from Ranger, Texas and had made the drive just to watch the game (or uh... drink at the bar upstairs). I hope they all made it home safely. Thinking about it today, I wonder if any of them thought that Monday was August 32?

Swearin' & Cussin'

For some reason I was thinking about this old saying today. My mom taught it to me when I was a girl. I don't remember much about my childhood, but I do remember the day my mother taught me to swear. It seems really funny now since my mother could out cuss a sailor! But she once told me that if I felt the need to swear that I had her permission to say this...

"Darn, darn, double darn, dang! Gee Whiz, golly bust, goose devil, dang!"

Now say it again really, really fast. Are you feelin' naughty yet?

Friendship

I met up with an old friend for lunch today. It was nice. She and I use to be really close and have drifted apart over the years. Mostly, my fault. You see, I just don't like people. My kids tease me about that all the time. They are pretty much right. I don't know why that is. I am sure it has something to do with my mother. Yes, it's all mom's fault. Boy, now that is a line I have heard before. You know, I have alluded to my childhood before and about how difficult it was. I am certain that there are some social skills that I just don't have because of it. But that is no excuse now. So, I am been trying to work on that part of me. I miss my friend, she has gone through a difficult time in the past year or so. I know that others were there for her, but not me. Not that she needs me, it just hurts to know that she suffered and I wasn't around. She is doing great now, and that makes me happy. I have another friend who is in the midst of a crisis. I ache for her. I guess that is why I wanted to get reacquainted with this lost friend. I have finally realized that I am not an island. I am not self sufficient. I guess... I need people. There I said it. Are you happy now?

What is today's date?

First of all my kids keep fussing at me about not using their real names. I told them I am protecting them, they say they don't need it. They give their permission for me to use their names. So here goes. Yesterday the whole gang met up at our house for a Labor Day BBQ. Jeff cooked up some awesome ribs. Matt said that when Jill got up this morning she asked him this question. "Is today September 1st or August 32nd?" Jill said that she thought that August had more days in it than any other month, so she wasn't sure of the date. Matt answered her by saying, "No, it's July 64th."

I swear to you, she really asked this. Sometimes I wonder whose child she really is.... Matt and his friends call this a "Jillism", that's really funny because he didn't know that we call it that too!

Legend
JP - Jeff
JL - Jillian
JR - Jordan
JM - Justine
JB - Jaley
JT - Julie
VK - Violet