Merry Menarche

Skye started her path into womanhood recently. In true menstrual fashion, Aunt Flo made its appearance on the night of the blood moon AND the night before our mini vacation to Ft. Worth. How appropriate that it shows up at the most inconvenient time.

I vaguely remember my first period.

Around the time I was to begin my first menstrual cycle my mother gave me a book to read "What Every Girl Should Know About Her First Period"...or something along those lines. I read the book and half-ass comprehended some of it. Back in my day, nobody in my small friends circle openly talked about our periods and my parents weren't exactly the open for discussion types when it came to the birds and the bees so most of what I understood about the entrance into womanhood was guesswork.

On my first day into womanhood I was hanging out on the carport after a school day with neighborhood friends. I felt crampy and a bit sick at my stomach. After several hours of cramping and progressive blood flow I finally told my mother. There wasn't much discussion but more of a sense of privacy and shame as she led me into her bedroom and gave me a Kotex belt  and an over sized pad and instructed me how to attach it. I remember thinking I was doomed if I had to don this attire every month for the next few decades.

Skye took it like water off a duck's back and didn't complain or moan at all about it showing up just in time for vacation, nor did she act like it was any sort of inconvenience. I was a little surprised considering she's prone to make really big issues out of small occurrences.

So now my teenage daughter is now a woman....HEAR HER ROAR!!

Fort Worth Mini Vacation

After an easy and uneventful 3 hour drive we rolled into Ft. Worth early Tuesday afternoon. I was impressed with the hotel and the room view.....

Definitely too cold to swim yet, but nice.

We dumped our luggage and Bo off at the hotel and headed to the first place on our itinerary, the Stockyards.

But first, we grabbed a late lunch at Habaneros's in the Stockyard then explored around a bit before the cattle drive began....

There were plenty of museums in the stockyard, but el cheapo I wasn't willing to pay for any of them as late in the day as we arrived. I'm pretty sure we didn't miss much.

Finally, the cattle drive began. It was enjoyable but I guess I was expecting a rush of cattle busting through with a cowboy on a horse with a whip behind yelling "yahhhh". I guess I watched too much GUNSMOKE as a kid....

Next, we checked out Billy Bob's. I have an affection for Honky Tonk's and immediately upon entrance had the urge to sit down with a JD and coke and listen to some music with good company. If there is a such thing as a past life, I'm pretty sure whatever life I had revolved around a bar room.....

The Wall of Fame in Billy Bob's.....

That evening Skye and I utilized the fitness room and explored the premises. Just before dusk Toby and I took Bo for his potty break. There was a nice paved trail behind the hotel which is a plus when traveling with a pet.....

We all took a vote and decided on the Ft. Worth Zoo for the next day....

Zoo Train Ride

Last day there we had to decide on something Bo could do with us since we would be headed home. I chose the Fort Worth Water Garden.

Bo says "Hell no, you're not taking me down there!"

Ft. Worth appears to be a nice city and moves at a much slower pace than Austin. Two observations we made while in Ft. Worth:  1. There are A LOT of train tracks and trains 2. The roads are in deplorable condition.

Hot Topics

This week was spent catching up on the "to do list". I have a hotel booked for a couple of days in Ft. Worth next week and I wanted to make sure all loose ends were tied before we left.

I'm pretty excited about our first mini vacation of the year. I have a Texas bucket list and the Ft. Worth Stockyards is one I have been lusting after for awhile, mostly because I've heard older kids enjoy the stockyard. The older Skye gets the harder it is to find trips that are interesting to her.

In my downtime I've been crocheting my cousin baby stuff. As I crochet these little items I'm always very thankful that someone other than myself is bearing the burden of being pregnant and raising small children. I'm left with only the joy of gift giving. :-)

You can't have a Texas baby without some Crochet Cowboy Boots.

I also worked on this crochet "lovey" for a couple of days. The instructions were....in my opinion....fucked up. I ripped out and restarted more times than I care to mention and still couldn't comprehend the instructions. I finally improvised the best I could and surrendered to defeat....

I'm suppose to be a bunny

This damn bunny is the kind of project that makes me question my crochet skills. As you have probably guessed I'm still a little pissed at that damn bunny.

As much as I have bitched about this spring being on average colder than usual, I am enjoying the fact that it's still cool enough in the mornings that hubby is able to join me on my morning runs (he bikes). I'm a little over obsessed with the nearby park lately. It's just so beautiful and tranquil there in the mornings. Medicine for the soul....

My baby loves being free dog

This picture reminds me of those pictures we used to draw as kids with the sun in the corner of the page.

I also love the sunsets in the spring and summer months.....

Pool WAYYYY  cold yet....

Until next time....

Crochet For Cancer

In November twelve years ago my mom passed after a 5 year battle with cancer. She was only 60 years young old. At the time I didn't think 60 was young but now that I am quickly approaching 60 - in just 10 more years....I'm convinced how true it is that time flies the older you get. And like, the older you get the faster it goes.

As each year of my life passes quickly by I appreciate and understand more and more the things my mom did for us kids. Sometimes I get a thorn in my ass and mentally dig up past hurts and disappointments and wallow in them, but I'm pretty sure my mom mothered based on the knowledge and experience she had at the time. My only regret is that she didn't stick around long enough for me to grow and mature into an understanding of  her as a person instead of just my mom. 


Anyway, this post isn't really about my mom so I'll move on.

I've really been enjoying my crocheting and thought maybe I could share my some of my creations with a meaningful charity. I came across the idea of crocheting chemo caps for cancer patients on Pinterest and immediately the idea piqued my interest. After all, my mom was bald for awhile during chemo treatments. I even remember her having a little fun by jumping out behind doors and scaring us with her bald head....before she started getting sick from the treatments anyway.

I've already made three caps.....

Toby was having a good ole time modeling for me one evening.....

I  really felt good about this project until I delved a little deeper into the guidelines. They understandably have strict rules about pet hair, perfumes, and germs.

First off, not only is my whole house covered in pet hair but I also have a shedding issue. My hair falls out in wads. My pet also likes to roost nearby while I crochet which only adds to the hair issue.

It's also recommended you do not wash the chemo caps so there goes the idea of trying to wash hair and germs out of the caps.

Now I'm paranoid and feel like I'd need to be in a sterile room to crochet chemo caps. I certainly don't want to make anyone sicker than what they already are. *sigh*

Maybe I'll figure something out. Maybe not. I tried.

Walking Pease Park

This week we had to make a trip downtown for some supplies so I figured we could squeeze in a short hike on one of the downtown trails. I'm way overdue for some meaningful hiking but I figured something was better than nothing.

Because of the abundant wildlife and dogs on the downtown trails we opted to leave Bo at home. We did take him to for his walk at the local park before we went so he didn't really miss out on anything...but chasing squirrels, of course.

By the time we walked Bo and ran a couple of small but time consuming business tasks the clock was ticking away. I'm a focused and organized person. When I'm on a mission I don't like to stray from my destination. Unfortunately, Toby is not like that so we end up wasting precious time.

By the time we made it to the Shoal Creek Greenbelt trail at Pease Park I was a bit 'out of the mood'. It was already almost noon and my breakfast smoothie was close to being long gone. I also was a bit annoyed with myself that I had not perused the online trail map thoroughly before we left so that I would know the best route to take and that we wouldn't be just randomly walking around.

After all, given our time allotment (and my growling stomach) I wanted our hike to be much shorter than the 5 mile trail along Shoal Creek.

We ended up just walking randomly along the trail for about a mile or so. The portion of the trail we walked wasn't much to look at but there were a couple of cool spots along the way...

After our hike we ate a quite lunch at Baby A's. That was nice.

On the subject of crocheting, I was looking for a small project to work on. One of the very first projects my aunt taught me to crochet was a toilet seat cover. A couple of weeks ago I had ran across a pattern for one on Pinterest that looked a lot like the one I had made back in the 70's.

I must have dreamed it up because my search for it led me to nowhere. I searched again and couldn't find the original pattern so I found another one I liked. It's nothing like the one I wanted to make but it turned out nicely anyway....even if the instructions were really iffy on it.

I put it in our spare bathroom because it has very little potty poo traffic......

This morning I finally got to hang out with my friend Robin thrifting at the Blue Hanger. Both of us have had an influx of family obligations that have turned our weekly thrift store trip into a once in a blue moon.

I swear, once I got out of the house and was driving to meet her at Blue I felt like I had just broke out of prison. I hate the feeling of feeling trapped and I have felt a little more than trapped lately. My morning was good for my soul and should tide me over for a bit anyway.