As My Life Turns

A New Year, A New Beginning

2012-01-11T20:52:00.011-06:00

Well, the beginning of 2012 has not been bad so far..no train wrecks at least. Last year started off with the death of my little Brandi and the adoption of a tornado-like dog I like to sometimes call Monster.

All in all 2011 wasn't a horrible year - meaning it could have been worse - but it certainly wasn't my best years.

The record breaking drought and extreme triple digit temps last year also put a damper on my own soul and I'm sure of everyone else affected by it.

Also, for whatever reason, I also felt a little isolated and lonely for most of the year..like I'm not living up to my own standards...

One good thing that came out of the year is that I started a regular running/walking routine. It's the longest I have ever stuck with an exercise routine and it has become a habit that is ingrained in my daily life now.

I know I have been quite lately, but quite honestly it's because I have not had much to say. Most of my thoughts have been very personal. I'm usually a very open person about my thoughts and feelings but somehow I'm feeling very protective of what I think and feel lately...maybe because they are not pretty thoughts and feelings.

Hopefully I will sort out whatever is going on in my mind soon and I will be able to put my life on paper regularly again..

HAIR

2012-01-02T18:24:00.007-06:00

HAIR is a major source of aggravation for many women, myself included. Maybe it's because a woman's beauty is defined by her hair so the way our hair looks is always under a microscope.

For the past couple of months Summer has wanted to cut her hair boy short. I kept thinking like most of her wild ideas this idea would pass so I have been patiently waiting it out.

When I was younger my mother always insisted that I keep my hair short..for whatever reason. I always hated it and felt very naked when one more time I let her convince me of a super short cut my senior year of high school. I hated it and couldn't wait for the day for it to grow back out.

Confidence is something I've never had and to have very short hair was very exposing me. I felt naked and vulnerable. I used, and still use, my longer hair to hide behind.

In my opinion, two things have to be present for a woman to sport a short cut...confidence or true facial beauty...or just smart enough to know that a super short cut is the way to go for a busy, no fuss kind of woman.

When my daughter offered to pay for her own haircut out of her allowance if I would just take her to the salon, I knew she was serious. I reluctantly took her.

I cringed as I watched the stylest cut her hair off in wads and throw it to the floor.

Sometimes it's so hard to let your child be a separate individual from who you want them to be. Sometimes we parents tend to try and make their children miniature versions of themselves and their desires and when that is challenged it can be quite uncomfortable. But I sucked it up and let her express herself in a way that SHE felt most comfortable. From experience I know that whatever gets repressed will eventually be expressed.

So, it's been two days since her new "do". It's been more traumatizing for me than it has been her.

Sometimes experiences aren't always just for the person experiencing them. Sometimes the viewer is the "student".

She has been called as a lesbian, told she looked like a boy, and avoided because she looks so different from the way she did before and she still remains totally emotionally intact. I would have fallen apart.

It became obvious to me that my daughter is blessed with a lot thicker skin than I am and that what other people think of her hairstyle preference does not sway her decision on what SHE likes.

When I asked her if their comments hurt her feelings she said.."A little, but what they think really doesn't matter as much as what I think.".

Her thinking will serve her well in her future endeavors. I still struggle with being true to myself and my daughter has figured it out in only 10 years.

Christmas 2011 and Year End Goodbye

2011-12-13T21:39:00.019-06:00

Because I hate winter and being out in the cold, my plan for Christmas this year was to hang around the house enjoying each others company, watching movies, eating, playing games, hiking the greenbelt, etc. After two days of cold, rainy weather stuck in the house together I decided that maybe getting out a little wouldn't hurt any of us.

I took the kids to the Jumpoline Park. They had a blast just as I suspected they would. Afterward we did a little shopping.

The next day we took a ride on the Metro Rail into downtown Austin. We checked out some artwork that was displayed in City Hall while we were there.

In short, I fell in love with that mode of traveling around Austin and plan on utilizing it more when they run the train route a couple of miles from my home in the near future.

New Year's Eve was fun this year. We played a little Ghost in the Graveyard and shot off fireworks with my neighbors until Toby arrived home from work just in time to make us all some drinks and and enjoy the midnight firework show. I think this is the first year that I was actually wide awake on a New Year's eve. I even managed to even stay up until 1:30a.m....I'm sure fueled by the late night Mexican Martinis.

I guess the highlight for the week would have to be my date with Toby. Even though Summer is confident enough to stay home alone for short periods of time, I'm not comfortable with leaving her alone at night for extended periods of time so with Lucas being here we had a in-house babysitter.

We left out around 6:00pm and grabbed a bite and a drink at Baby A's downtown. After we ate and enjoyed some uninterrupted conversation we headed to a popular location on 6th Street. Unfortunately, it was so early we were not able to go on the roof like I had wanted to do so we went next door where the roof was open already.

I was having more fun than I've had in a very long time. The view of downtown Austin was beautiful all lit up and the vibrancy of the city and being alone with hubby was making me feel like I had died and gone to heaven.

We had a couple of drinks while we listened to a band play. The band was good and only added to my enjoyment of the evening.

It started to get later so we met up with some of Toby's friends he used to work with when he worked downtown. Luckily I had enough beverage in me to find entertainment more than annoyance by the genre of music that was being played in this particular establishment.

We headed home and were in bed safe and sound by midnight. It was a WONDERFUL evening that reminded me what attracted me to my husband all those years ago.

Oh, and don't think we were talking about the kids and the home while we were out...lol.

Christmas Holiday 2011 highlights:

Enchanted Rock

2011-12-01T19:21:00.028-06:00

There is a reason our day trip of the week is appropriately named Enchanted Rock. The place was certainly enchanting and magnificent to boot!!

Luckily I've been keeping myself in shape or I don't think I would have ever made it to the summit. It was a pretty steep incline to the top and it seemed like the more we climbed the farther away the summit got..lol.

Almost to the summit...

Summer made it to the top way ahead of us and was enjoying the peace and tranquility of it all by the time we caught up with her....

We took a break and had a snack while we took in the scenery and enjoyed the feeling of solitude..

After our break we found a small cave we explored...

A thumbs up place for sure, but I definitely would not visit this rock in the middle of summer or any temps over 65 degrees. I purposely waited to take this day trip on a cooler day (60 degrees) and we still got warm hiking up the rock in the blazing sun.

What's For Dinner?

2011-11-26T19:01:00.016-06:00

Toby asked me this morning if I have been enjoying blogging about food.

Quite honestly, I would much rather be posting on some new or exciting place that I have traveled or explored but instead I find that I have been spending most of my time at home tending my family's needs, cleaning and cooking. The latter two are not really my idea of fun, but I suppose there is nothing I can do but make the best of it and hopefully give somebody some new meal ideas. I know I love to read about what other people put on their tables to eat so hopefully my meal ideas will inspire or at least spawn new ideas.

After all, the blogging world is for sharing in all forms and fashion so I find that I usually share the things that are going on in my life at the moment no matter how mundane they may be.

So here's what was on the menu for today...

For breakfast I made breakfast quesadillas. Okay, I never said all of my cooking was healthy but these are really good, quick and easy.

To make these I cracked an egg in a bowl and threw in some Jimmy Dean sausage crumbles, a tad of milk, and Natures Seasoning and mixed it all good with a fork. Dump the mixture into a hot pan oiled with bacon grease (I keep some stored in the fridge to cook my eggs in) and let it cook in a scrambled like way until done.

Then I spread the cook egg mixture onto one half of a flour tortilla, sprinkle some cheese of your choice on top (I use Mexican blend) and salsa if you choose (I do). Fold over the tortilla and throw it into a greased pan (I just spray my pan with Pam to heat the tortilla) until it is lightly browned and the cheese inside is melted.

I could eat two or three of these and have to really control myself not to make me another one.

Both of my kids have always loved helping me in the kitchen. When my son was young he always wanted to help me cook. Unfortunately my life was too rushed and chaotic back then for me to take the time to let him cook along beside me for more than a second or two. If only I had known then what I know now about those precious moments together that got pushed aside...

Helping in the kitchen is the one thing I never have to force Summer to do. When she sees the cutting board come out she's right there with the knife in her hand prepared to chop...

After breakfast was cleaned up I started on lunch. Yes, this is one of the advantages of having a husband that doesn't go into work until 2:00 p.m. I get to prepare breakfast and lunch back to back which means that on some days I spend a couple of hours in the kitchen. No, my husband does not demand breakfast and lunch, I just feel that is my obligation as a wife and homemaker that I do my job. He works hard for us so I feel I need to be doing my part by keeping his belly full.

For lunch I prepared and old favorite that I sort of made up. I cut up a head of cabbage and put it in a huge pot of water to boil, add some cut up sausage of your choice, sliced red potatoes, the white ends of some green onion and salt and pepper to taste.

I also tried to kill two birds with one stone and go ahead and prepare the next days lunch of Chicken and Rice since I was already slaving in the kitchen.

My Chicken and Rice is basic..cooked chicken, water, a can of cream of chicken soup, a can of cream of celery, cut up celery, rice, and salt and pepper to taste.

After Toby left for work Summer and I sat down to watch the movie.."Riding In Cars With Boys". We drank one of her favorites, a Chocolate Peanut Butter Smoothie while we watched it. Here is how I make them....

Cut up one banana into the blender. Add a packet of Carnation Instant Breakfast, a spoonful of peanut butter, enough milk to cover, a handful of ice cubes and blend.

Well, until next time....

What's For Dinner?

2011-11-25T19:34:00.009-06:00

Not much cooking went on last week but I did manage to try one new recipe that I wanted to share. It was really good but very spicy so if you don't like spicy foods this may not be one you want to try. Before I moved to Texas I didn't really have a taste for spicy foods but now that I have been exposed to spicier foods I prefer my food with a little "kick" to it.

This is CHIPOTLE BLACK BEAN SOUP....

2 tbsp olive oil
1 bay leaf
1 cup vidailia onion, minced
2 celery ribs, chopped
3 cloves garlic, chopped
2 tsp Chipotle seasoning
1 cup frozen white corn kernels ( I used canned)
2 cans black beans
2 tsp chili powder
1 tsp ground coriander
1 1/2 tsp cumin
1 (15 oz) can diced tomatoes
1 (8 oz) can tomato sauce
1 (32 oz) carton vegetable stock
1 cup white rice cooked ( I used brown because that's what I had on hand )

Saute bay leaf, onion, celery and garlic in olive oil. Add Chipotle seasoning, then corn and both cans of undrained black beans. Add chili powder, coriander and cumin stirring well. Add tomatoes, tomato sauce and stock. Cover and bring to a boil. Add rice and simmer for about 10 minutes.

Another staple food we keep around is salad. Salad can be as filling or light as you want it to be and it's something we ALL like..including Summer.

Each week I try to change it up. One week I might add broccoli and cauliflower and the next week it may be carrots and radishes. The dressing can range anywhere from buttermilk ranch to olive oil.

I also quit buying the packaged salad mixes. I found that I can buy a head of Romaine lettuce for .88 and chop it myself as opposed to the pre-cut packaged for $2.68 a bag.

This week our salad consisted of Romaine lettuce, cucumber, tomatoes, broccoli, cauliflower, shredded cheese, bacon bits, and buttermilk ranch...and of course, seasoned croutons.

Thanksgiving Day

2011-11-24T18:28:00.006-06:00

No cooking for me today. My oven died last Thanksgiving Day and I have not bothered to resurrect it yet. I try not to use my oven in the warmer months (which is most of the year) because it heats up the house, but I do like to have it in the couple of cold months we do have to help keep the house warm and smell those yummy comfort foods wafting from it.

I guess you could say that even though I miss having my oven at times, having it is obviously not high on my priority list...

Lucas was not able to make it for the holiday so I decided we would go eat at Cracker Barrel and see a movie afterwards.

We got to Cracker Barrel early to beat the crowds and was lucky enough not to have to wait. We were immediately seated and didn't have to wait long to be served our traditional Thanksgiving dish of Turkey and Dressing with all the fixings.

We decided on Puss 'N Boots for our movie. I'm not a big T.V. or movie fan and would much rather have my nose stuck in a book or surfing the net, but for the sake of family togetherness I endured the hour and a half long movie.

The movie was in 3D and I had never personally watched a movie in 3D before. I have to say that I think I was more intrigued with the effects the 3D glasses gave the movie than the movie itself. All in all, it wasn't torture.

Even though I missed having my son, the day was rather pleasant and relaxed.

Outdoor Explorations

2011-11-21T08:13:00.029-06:00

The weather has been great the past few weeks so we all have been spending a lot of time outdoors..well, me and Summer anyway. Toby is perfectly satisfied perched on the sofa in front of the T.V. or his Iphone when he's not at work.

One of the things I love most about where I live is that Summer has plenty of space to roam, and that's exactly what she has spent her time doing lately. The one rule is that she has to take a friend or me into the woods with her. I don't allow her to go out into the wild, expansive acreage alone.

Since they plowed the road through it has given us some access to other parts of the greenbelt we never knew existed. We found out there has been a man that has been making walkable trails through the woods for the past few years and I must say he has done a good job.

Summer and I walked some of them yesterday. But first, we stopped off at the swing. My neighbors moved in a month after we did four years ago and he built this swing for the kids. It's still hung out there untouched by nobody but the kids who are allowed to venture that far back into the woods....

Here are the newly-found trails....

While we were walking through the wilderness something white caught my eye in the brush. It startled me at first until I saw that it was one of the many feral cats that lurk around in the woods. This particular cat is my favorite because of her coloring...

While we were out there I wanted to take another look at the gravestones in the historical graveyard. I brought along an old toothbrush and poured a little water from our water bottle on the stones so I could read the names and message.

The Austin Genealogical Society has a project going on now where they are going around trying to preserve names and dates on the old gravestones in the area so I thought I may could help them out with the two in our area.

I also find the gravestones get me caught up in wondering about the people that lived in this area 100 years ago...

Prickly Pear Cactus is very common around here, but Summer spotted this different sort of cactus. I thought the red on it was really pretty.....

Headed back to the house!!!..

"Dream" House

2011-11-19T20:32:00.021-06:00

This is just too odd, random, unusual, and freakish not to share.

I've been known to dream vividly and have always had a tendency to dream about unrecognizable places only for them to show up in my waking world days, weeks, or sometimes years later. I can't tell you how many times I have been driving through a city or an unfamiliar place I have never been and see a house or place that jarred my memory of having been there before in a dream.

I know, it doesn't make logical sense, and probably can be explained away by skeptics and even I, myself think there must be some logical, scientific explanation behind it all...you know, like all that time/space continue um crap.

But recently something happened that blew my mind away.

Here's what happened...

The other night I had a dream about a house. I was standing directly in front of the house looking at it. In my dream it was not the home I live in now, but a home I had just bought and I was really excited about it. I took a camera out of my pocket and took a picture of it and told myself in my dream that I wanted a picture of it so I wouldn't forget what it looked like. I snapped the pic and that was the end of the dream.

I awoke the next morning and went about my day.

That same day I was meeting a friend of mine for some thrift store shopping. On the way an old abandoned, shady looking hotel/bar that sits right on the edge of the Colorado River caught my eye. I have passed this particular place many times before and have always found it intriguing but this particular day I took the time to seek out the name of it so I could do a little research on it.

I slowed down as I passed it and noticed the name to be THE GOLDEN NUGGET.

I drove on and made a mental note to research it when I got home, but as usual daily life took over and the task got forgotten until later on that evening when I finally sat down to my computer. Out of the blue, the name GOLDEN NUGGET popped into my head and I said to myself.."Oh yeah, I was going to look that place up."

I typed in the words GOLDEN NUGGET in Austin, Texas into my Google search bar and clicked on the first link that caught my eye and lo and behold what I saw floored me!!

Staring me in the face was the EXACT same house that I had, just the night before, taken a picture of in my dream. The house I had dreamed about is in an area outside of Austin in a very affluent area called Horseshoe Bay.

As I looked at the picture google pulled up for me I recognized particular details of the house just as I had remembered them from my dream the night before.

I know, it makes absolutely no sense at all and I have spent the last couple of days trying to figure out the rhyme and reason behind it. Certainly something so random, coincidental and odd should have some meaning.

I just have no idea what it may be...

Jack of All Trades

2011-11-18T16:57:00.017-06:00

I have always had a creative side to me. As a child I loved to draw, color, paint, or decoupage. I even went through a calligraphy phase as a young teen and I must say was pretty good at. When I was around 11 years old my Aunt Sarah taught me to crochet which I learned with ease and created many small crocheted projects over the years.

My grandmother also did a lot of sewing and quilting. Oddly enough, my grandfather also used to crochet and quilt. I would have loved to have inherited one of their handmade quilts but somehow or another I was left out of the loop when the quilts were being handed out. Luckily, I do have one that my grandmother quilted just for me when I was pregnant with Lucas...23 years ago.

Anyway, last year Summer worked on a group quilt for a 4-H project. It was obvious that I had more fun working on it than she did. That 4-H quilt project lit a fire inside of me for quilting but I didn't really pursue anything until this year when I volunteered Summer-insert scowl from Summer here-for another quilt group project.

In the process of working on the group quilt this year I kept thinking how I would like to sew my own quilt so I took my stashed birthday money my dad so graciously gives me every year and bought me a sewing machine.

All this being said, I never excelled at any of my projects and tend to jump from one "craft" to another.

Here is my latest creative venture, a quilt for Summer.....

Bo obviously likes it because every time I have it on the floor to piece it he plants himself on top of it...

For whatever it's worth I'm enjoying the process. I'm finding sewing to be very relaxing.

What's For Dinner?

2011-11-13T17:42:00.027-06:00

I don't often cook the same main meal twice. Most people cook the same favorite dishes over and over again..or at least my mom used to, and I think I used to years ago when I was a working mom.

Over the years I began to bore with my menu selections. Nowadays I have just a handful of favorites that I cook repeatedly, e.g. spaghetti or chicken and dumplings.

Most of my weekly menu preparation time is spent scouring the Internet, cookbooks and magazines in search of new menu selections to test out.

This practice is probably why I find grocery shopping and menu preparation time consuming and stressful.

Since my new lifestyle change this past year and Toby's recent request for less heavy, healthier foods I have been trying to work in more fresh/whole foods into our diet.

Mind you, as simple as the below recipes look, I was in the kitchen all morning preparing our meal for the day. It takes time to chop fresh herbs and veggies.

I find that I really enjoy cooking if I'm doing it for fun and I'm not pressed for time.

Here is what was on the menu for today.

This is my favorite snack and it's one I prepare almost weekly! My Hispanic neighbors inspired me with this yummy AVOCADO SALAD. I love it because I can eat it as a snack or a meal and it's filling.

5-6 Roma tomatoes chopped
1 large avocado chopped
1/2 cup chopped green onions
chopped jalapenos to taste
chopped cilantro
2 cloves fresh garlic
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp salt
juice from one medium fresh lime
A bag of Totino's Restaurant Style chips for dipping

This one is a new one worth the preparation.

GARBANZO ZUCCHINI SALAD
1 zucchini cut into bite size pieces
2 cups tomatoes chopped
1 can garbanzo beans drained (I only added half the can because Toby does not like alot of beans)
2 tsp dry parsley or 2 tbs fresh (I used fresh because I had it on hand)
1/2 tsp basil or 1 tbs fresh basil (I used dry)
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp dill weed
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 green onions, chopped

Mix all ingredients in a bowl. Squeeze the juice from 1 lemon over the mixture. Marinate 30 minutes before serving.

Here is Toby's favorite, AVOCADO SANDWICH..

This one I sort of tweaked on my own off of another recipe and it worked out pretty well.

whole grain bread toasted (I use Mrs. Baird's whole grain sugar free bread)
mayonnaise
1 avocado sliced
1 lime for juice squeezed over sliced avocado
a pinch of fresh cilantro
half a cucumber sliced
garlic flavored chili sauce
any other veggie you would like to add...I use whatever I have on hand. Most the time lettuce or tomato.

I also prepared these MARINATED CUCUMBERS for a side or just a snack when I'm wanting just a little something to munch on....

2 tsp sugar
4 tsp red wine or rice vinegar (I used red wine vinegar)
2 tsp olive oil
2 tsp sesame oil
1 tsp soy sauce
tiny pinch of red pepper flakes
1 tsp cilantro

Mix together well until the sugar dissolves.

2 green onions chopped (tops and the white part)
1 large cucumber sliced thin, leave the skin on

Add the green onions and cucumber slices to the marinade mixture and let it sit for at least 30 minutes, stirring frequently.

There! A meal fit for a king!

Memories From The Past - Desoto Caverns

2011-11-06T21:02:00.018-06:00

It's been awhile since I have done a "Memories from the past" post but this is one that is warranted. I can't tell you how many times I bring up this story to Toby to reminisce on. It's one of those bad experiences you look back on and laugh.

Here goes..

Toby and I have always loved to camp and took the opportunity quite often when we lived in Alabama. Camping is all about hiking and campfires for us and in Alabama there are no burn bans to put a damper on a camping trip...that I have ever experienced anyway.

Well, one weekend we got an itch to camp so we headed North Alabama to Desoto Cavern Park. It was November so it was cold but we didn't mind, we were going to build a campfire.

Summer was around 3 years old and Lucas had opted to stay behind at home alone....heaven for a 16 year old.

We had prepared for everything but the weather and mileage. This was before we owned Ipods or GPS's. After the 5 hour drive that I had estimated to be only 3 hours, we arrived at our destination under partly cloudy skies and 40 degree temps.

We quickly set up our tent in a random spot then set out to browse the desolate grounds of the Caverns. I wasn't all that impressed initially but I was glad to be at our destination and optimistic about hiking the area and touring the cavern.

The cavern turned out to be just a big underground room with a few stalactites and stalagmites..nothing like the massive caves we have here. After the cavern tour it was late and getting colder so we decided we would wait until the next day to hike the area.

At dusk we built a fire as we watched the clouds slowly roll in and the temps drop. We weren't really all that worried. Summer had passed out in the tent from a long day and we had our bottle of vodka and a roaring fire to keep us warm on the cold November night.

Eventually the events of the day and vodka kicked in and we headed inside the tent to crash. About this same time the rain had began to come down.

I remember thinking how romantic it was going to be hearing the rain come down in the tent snuggled up next to hubby. We also had brought our small space heater to keep us warmer inside the tent during the night.

I eventually fell into a deep slumber when I was awoken in the middle of the night by the sounds of hubby cursing....and the pouring rain!

In my half asleep state I understood that he was somehow getting wet. Mind you, we had a plugged-in space heater in our small tent with us. I only half-responded to his complaints as I settled back in next to Summer.

It didn't seem like it was but just a short time later before he woke up cursing about being wet again. We moved him to a dryer spot and this time I had slept a little of the vodka off and was paying a little more attention to his complaints...or maybe it was because the cursing was a little louder this time.

I was coherent enough to question him at this point. He claimed that he was soaked so I crawled over the check it out and yes, he was laying in a puddle RIGHT NEAR THE PLUGGED IN HEATER.

It was storming like crazy but there wasn't much I could do but make sure that the section Summer was sleeping in was not wet and laid back down and waited for the sun to rise and the raining to hopefully stop.

At daybreak I was awoken again by the sounds of cursing and ultimatums. His exact words I will never forget.."GET UP!!! WE ARE LEAVING NOW!"

It was still pouring and by this time the floor of the whole tent was wet and we were freezing because we had to turn off the heater in the middle of the night when we discovered there was water coming in from somewhere.

We packed up and took down the tent in the rain and loaded everything into the car with sleep still in our eyes.

As we were taking down the tent we did a little investigation and noticed that the tent had a seam along the bottom that was not sealed good. This wouldn't have ordinarily mattered other than the fact that we unknowingly had set the tent up in a small crater that allowed the rain to puddle where our tent sat therefore seeping into the seams.

We didn't want our 5 hour trip to be a total waste so we decided we would try and check out a nearby historic mill, but it was still so rainy that we couldn't even get out to check it out.

As we headed out of town we stopped into a Hardees to grab one of those bowl breakfast's that looked so yummy that we always saw advertised on T.V. Put bluntly, it was nasty, and this is coming from two people that aren't picky eaters.

It certainly was not a fun trip, but for some reason it's one of our most memorable.

Lady Bird Lake Trail

2011-11-05T18:00:00.011-05:00

The goal of this day was to get out and enjoy some of the trail around Lady Bird Lake that we have not walked yet.

The day was freezing. Not so much as the temps were all that cold, but the 40mph winds that came along with the 60 degree day that made it feel like it was 30 degrees.

Once we got moving and generated some heat it got a little more tolerable and we were able to enjoy the rest of the afternoon.

Enjoy the view from my camera...

Ren Fest 2011

2011-11-04T21:01:00.013-05:00

We had so much fun at the Renaissance Festival last year that we decided it would be worth it to go again this year. I want to make note here that this is no small time Renaissance Festival. I get lost in it and highly recommend it to anyone interested in the Renaissance period or just up for having some good old-fashioned fun.

Last year it was cold, rainy, and very windy. This year the weather was much more cooperative and pleasant.

Today's highlights....

Jeans

2011-11-04T20:38:00.005-05:00

I have a few pet peeves and jeans is one of them. I have two styles. In the summer it's shorts and tank tops. In the winter it's jeans and long t-shirts or flannel shirts. I'm simple and comfort is more important than style in my book.

Since I started running several months ago I have lost 15 lbs. When the weather started to change I never took into account that when I put on my jeans from last year I would need to wear a belt to hold them up - which I don't wear, or go out and buy a couple of new pairs.

Since before this post I have already been jeans shopping twice and it has been a horrid experience both times. I'm thinking that maybe jogging pants just may have to work this year. Hopefully I won't have anywhere nice to go anytime soon...

What's with all the parameters nowadays anyway?? Let's see; we have skinny fit, regular fit, relaxed fit, and boot leg. Then we have midrise, lowrise, and some other rise I can't remember, flare leg, straight leg, oh and the worst of all, STRETCH!!!

Then on top of it all you have all these styles mixed and matched. IT DRIVES ME CRAZY!! I just want a pair of damned jeans size 8 please!!!

What happened to the day of walking into Wards Army Navy and buying a simple pair of LEVI's jeans???

Halloween Highlights

2011-11-01T21:04:00.023-05:00

Carving the pumpkin with daddy...

The finished product...

I took Summer and the neighbor kids to Ghost Town...

Their favorite part is the maze where they run through the maze from all the ghouls and zombies...

Trick or treating and hanging out with the neighbors. My neighbor Darryl pictured here eerily reminds me of my youngest brother so much that I interact with him the same way I do my brother..

Guadalupe River State Park

2011-10-26T20:10:00.016-05:00

Last week our day trip was to Guadalupe River State Park. After 2 hours in the car with a 10 year old and a drooling bulldog that had backseat boundary issues I was relieved to escape the wrath on the inside of the car.

I knew the minute I walked to the edge of the cliff and saw this scene that it was going to be our kind of place...

The river was a little low due to the drought, but it was crystal clear and flowing well....

As usual the day was not long enough to be able to explore all the park but we saw enough to know that we will be back again.

Cathedral of Junk

2011-10-15T18:59:00.022-05:00

The Cathedral of Junk is another Austin icon that I just now got around to visiting and I must say that even though it was near the bottom of my list of things to see and do, I couldn't help but, for the first time ever, be impressed with junk.

I usually save my little morning getaways with my friend Robin for myself and leave Mr. and Mrs. Sleeping Beauty in the bed while I enjoy some much needed uninterrupted adult conversation, but this morning was different. We were going to the Cathedral of Junk and I thought that it would be a fun outing for Summer also.

The Cathedral was tucked back into a suburban neighborhood and unless you knew it was there...or saw all the people hanging around waiting to get into the backyard to view the "sculpture". I'm sure this guy's neighbors really love him....

If I were to use a phrase to describe the Cathedral I would say that it's visual time capsule. I stared mesmerized into the whole being of the creation..kind of like looking through a microscope at a large object and seeing all smaller parts that make the whole over time.

You can meander through the halls Cathedral looking at all the junk collected over time to create this 3 story Cathedral.

This is one of those instances where you definitely have to be there to get the full effect. I have seen pictures before but it's nothing like really being there and walking through it experiencing it.

We also squeezed in a picnic lunch at a nearby park. We had fun looking at the historical tombstones tucked away in the woods at the park.

A little playground time and end the day with some Amy's Ice Cream. I think we all had a thumbs up kind of day!

Capital of Texas Zoo

2011-10-15T18:29:00.019-05:00

This past weekend we headed to local Capital of Texas Zoo. I really like this particular zoo even if it wouldn't be considered among some of the more popular zoos. It's very "country" feel to it, but the reason I most like it is because it's more up front and personal - rather than standing back and admiring the animals you can interact with a few of these creatures.

I was highly annoyed with myself when I realized I had forgotten my digital camera so the pics that are posted are from my phone camera and are not as easy to view.

Summer enjoyed playing with the prairie dogs the most. They weren't shy and let her touch them..

Feeding the goats...

There was one little fella that was loose. He followed us all over jumping up on us for treats. He reminded me an awful lot of my dog....

The horse was cute too...

This bird was very chatty. Someone taught him well....

Another favorite was the bird cage. The quaker birds kept trying to bite our feet but the cockatiel was very sweet....

It was an enjoyable day for us all.

RAIN

2011-10-09T07:58:00.005-05:00

Rain is something most people complain about. I know I have been known to. But after the past couple of years of living without it you come to miss it.

Yes, since we have moved to Central Texas we have been in a drought, but this last year has been the worst on record for us.

I came from an area where afternoon showers are a common thing, to an area where you wake up every morning and it's a beautiful day..every day, day in and day out. As Toby once said.."The meteorologist here have it made."

But after a while you come to miss the rain. The ground begins to crack, trees begin to wilt, flowers die, water restrictions start being enforced, wildlife dies or can't reproduce, farmers crops suffer, and it just keeps getting hotter and hotter because there is no moisture to cool things off.

Where I live, when it rains people jump for joy. It's like seeing snow in the South. They stand out on their porch and watch in amazement. Kids run around playing in it.

As I type this post, it is finally raining and has been steady for the last 2 hours. We even got a little rain yesterday. I hope this is the beginning of a new weather trend and we will begin to see a little more rain, but if it's not, I'm thankful for the rain we are getting...and I'm sure the trees, flowers, and animals surely appreciate it.

Boredom

2011-10-08T18:49:00.015-05:00

"I'm Bored" seems to be a fairly common expression you hear come out of a child's mouth.

To be honest, I have a distaste for the expression and obviously my mother also did. When my brother and I were young, if we expressed boredom we were promptly put to work dusting, cleaning our rooms or some other mundane chore. Mom nipped the word bored in the bud really quick - didn't take us very long to figure out the word bored was just as naughty as the "F" word.

I can now see where she was coming from. Certainly SHE was not bored with all the household chores and responsibilities that it took to run a household, satisfy a husband, and raise kids.

Although I have heard the word come out of Summer's mouth once or twice...mostly from mimicking her friends that were using the word, it's a rare event.

She doesn't get bored very often and when she has, those were the times she would concoct some of her most inventive ideas and creations.

It seems bored is a common word used among her traditionally schooled friends. I have noticed that even when they are sitting around in a group they proclaim to be "bored". How can one be bored with a group of friends I ask you???????

My observation is that a schooledchild has been so scheduled as to what the next activity will be that they have very little free time on their hands. They have no idea what to do with free time when they have it. They have been molded into what society wants them to be....ROBOTS that are told what to do, how to think, what to wear, and how to behave. No need to think about what you want to do in your free time because there is not much FREE TIME.

I can remember when I was in the "workforce" I would sometimes call in sick to work to give myself a day of freedom and relaxation. At the end of the day, I never really enjoyed my day of freedom because I ended up wasting my day away wondering what I should be doing. I was so used to my daily routine of scheduled tasks that I actually felt out of place and odd with free time. I was always glad to get back to work the next day just because I knew what was expected of me.

Is this what's happening to our young generation??? They can't even think for themselves anymore because there is always somebody there that knows more than they do to tell them what is expected of them??

I hope not, but I think so....

Random Thoughts on Paper

2011-10-03T20:08:00.012-05:00

Over the past several months or more I have been seriously contemplating dumping my blog. For some reason or another I always end up coming back to it as if it's crack cocaine.

I never knew exactly why I kept coming back until the other night when I had to go back into time on my blog and search for some personal info.

As I scanned through all my posts I took note to how much Summer has grown in just a short few months.

I saw Lucas in random posts and it gave me the comfort and knowing that he will be back again.

I saw all the fun we have when our family members visit and I was also comforted by the visual evidence of how full our lives have been since our move to Texas 4 years ago.

I couldn't imagine not keeping those memories going now matter how insignificant they may seem to blog at the time. Those memories are what snap me back into the moment and enjoy...the moments caught in time.

Since entering the blog world a few years ago, I have read some exceptionally interesting and well written blogs. Over time I have narrowed my favorites down to a select few that I look forward to checking in on each week.

I think somewhere along the way I got caught up in whether I would post something based on whether someone would enjoy reading it or not.

Shame on me. I know better...

So, I trudge on in the blog world for the self-satisfaction I get from watching my life and my family grow day by day....via my personal blog.

Thoughts Become Things

2011-09-30T21:20:00.015-05:00

One of the things that appealed to me most when we bought our home was the area of green space behind my home and throughout the neighborhood.

I love the outdoors, plain and simple. I'm simplistic and I like my surroundings simplistic and natural.

Each time I take a nature walk in the greenbelt behind my house I think about making an actual walking path throughout.

Well, once again it has been proven to me that thoughts do become things.

While out walking the dog the other evening I noticed a freshly grated dirt path leading into the woods. Curious, I took the path to see what was going on and where it went.

At this point, I'm not really sure what the actual reason for the path being made behind my house is, but for now it's my new walking/running path through the great outdoors.

Here is a glimpse of my stroll the other evening...

This is the area directly behind my house.

Times Have Changed

2011-09-30T20:30:00.004-05:00

Some of the things I remember most fondly about my childhood days were the times me and my brother spent outdoors hunting toads, turtles, insects, lizards, green snakes and lightening bugs....and avoiding snakes.

Some of the things that stick out most in my mind are when my brother found an Anole egg in the grass on the edge of the house and it miraculously hatched in his palm when he picked it up...I wonder if he remembers that...???

We also found some turtle eggs under the trash burning pile ashes once. We have caught many box turtles in our young life....

There were always green snakes slithering around in the bushes around our house that my brother had no problem reaching out and grabbing for us to investigate....I haven't seen a green snake in many years. I wonder if they even exist anymore.

And toads! We used to get a foam ice chest and in a matter of minutes have at least 15 toads captured. Toads were always my favorite. I don't see many of them anymore either...

Lightening bugs (fireflys) were always the most fun to catch. There used to be so many up in the trees in the backyard that it looked like Christmas lights....again, I have not even seen a lightening bug in many years...

Where are all the creatures great and small?????

I remember spending a lot of time outdoors when I was a kid. Mom used to send us out the door, tell us to play outside for a while and lock the door behind us to ensure we wouldn't be coming in and out. If we needed something to drink the water hose was a sufficient water source.

Nowadays this sort of "child endangerment" could get you arrested...times surely have changed.

A "Dillo" Kind of Night

2011-09-26T22:03:00.017-05:00

As much as I love my adopted bulldog he has a rather..put nicely, extremely high prey drive. Certainly it comes instinctively and at one point in evolutionary history it most definitely would have served him well.

I'm not so bothered when he's jumping 3ft into the air in hopes of snagging a dragon fly or policing the yard for scorpions, spiders, beetles, or small flying insects, but when the prey happens to be neighborhood cats or innocent wildlife that mistakenly venture into the yard in search of food and water of their own it can be a gruesome experience for us more evolved "animals".

Humans have a tendency to "humanize" their pets partially because we feed and care for them so we don't usually see them react on their natural instincts. They don't see the cute little cottontail rabbit in the yard and think.."Oh, how cute" they see it as invasion upon their territory and will protect and serve their pack to the fullest extent.

Even though Bo can now sit, stay, and walk beside us properly we have not managed to nix that strong prey drive of his. An analogy would be akin to trying to train a man not to get an erection when he sees a naked woman..or a man.. which ever one appeals most to him...understand now?

On with the story.

The other night Summer and I were outside doing some treat training with Bo. It was dark and that drought has gone on so long that the greenbelt animals are bravely venturing into our backyard in search of water and food.

So, as we were training Bo, Summer said.."I hear something out there.". I looked out into the darkness and saw something lurking around myself. I'm certainly not a fearful type when it comes to wildlife but not having much experience with skunks makes me a little leery about getting too close to one.

About the time we saw the movement again so did Bo. That's when the trouble began. The armadillo that I had cursed many mornings for digging up my flower bed was making his nightly food quest.

Before I could shoo the thing off Bo took off and immediately pounced on him in full bulldog fashion. After all, how fast can something with heavy, thick armor affixed to his back move???

It was a harrowing experience. Bo was oblivious to my commands and was in full prey mode. The poor armadillo was hissing and trying his best to defend himself against Bo's powerful jaws shaking him back and forth with all his might.

I was desperate for a way to get him to relinquish the poor thing and dragged the hose out...something I know Bo hates. Bo immediately, armadillo in mouth, ran him back to the back of the yard far away from the hose.

Summer must have been on the same thought process as me and had somehow through all the commotion gone inside to retrieve another Bo deterrent...the pop gun. The pop gun was the winner. Once we shot it a couple of times Bo snapped out his kill mode...or maybe because it was because he had already accomplished what he set out to.

It was too late. Poor "Toughie" as Summer so lovingly named him, was laying there in the dead, drought ridden grass with his armor pierced numerous times and a huge hole revealing a portion of his internal organs.

Summer ran and got some old rags and we covered him/her in hopes to make her more comfortable..if only in spirit.

As sad and traumatic as it was, it was an humbling experience. Neither of us had ever seen an armadillo in any fashion other than on his back dead in the middle of a busy highway or in pictures.

We both cried as we watched her labored breathing and struggle for her last chance at escape from dog hell. Summer and I took the opportunity to investigate her armor and skin. She was tough everywhere..even her tiny ears. And she had very small eyes and lots of fur on her stomach....she was beautiful...

She eventually passed on to the destination we go when we leave our physical bodies.

I was so intrigued by the whole experience that I took the time to read up a bit on Armadillos. Aside from being the butt of the Road Kill joke they are very interesting creatures. Take a gander here at some of their unique characteristics.

Zedler Mill

2011-09-22T19:11:00.022-05:00

While in Sam's recently Summer and I came across a book called "Weird Texas: A Guide to Local Legends and Best Kept Secrets." We were so enthralled with reading the stories in the store that I decided it would be worth the $8 and purchased it.

As with most legends that get passed down through the years, you never know which ones are true or false or that have been generously embellished. Even so, it's always fun to read strange stories about places you have been to or can easily travel to.

One of the legends in the book was about a place that I have on my to see list anyway so Zedler Mill, a grist and sawmill that helped establish the small community of Luling, Texas in 1874 is where we headed for the day. The legend behind Zedler Mill is that a specter that is suspected to be a former watchman of the mill is still hanging around making sure noisy intruders stay away.

Thinking back, the place did have an eerie quietness to it even though it sits right against a noisy highway..

We rambled around for a little while peering into the windows of the old mill and checking out the river that ambles along beside it.

We weren't there long before someone got hurt...Toby. He was leaning down to go under a beam, came up too soon and banged his head on the beam. He immediately groaned in pain grabbed his head and fell to the ground.

I have to admit it was a little scary since I really didn't see what had happened and there was a small pool of blood forming. Luckily I knew from experience that head wounds bleed more than others, but that didn't make me feel much better considering I still didn't know how hard he hit or how big the gash was. I certainly didn't need my husband unconscious on me in a haunted mill.

I knew getting fit would come in handy one of these days. I made a mad running dash to the car to grab the first aid kit Summer had just recently made and put in our car. I don't know what had even possessed her to make up the medical kit but I was certainly glad she had got the urge.

While I had ran to the car Summer had ran to the restroom and grabbed him some wet and dry paper towels. I had to hand it to her she was the one coordinating the whole emergency routine. I would have never remembered about the kit she had placed in the car if she had not reminded me about it and I certainly didn't think about going into the restroom and grabbing paper towels. Just in case you haven't guessed it yet, I don't work well in emergencies.

Even as I am sitting here writing this I'm realizing that through all the commotion of the moment I never even commended Summer on a job well done...

Here is Toby after his conk on the head. I joked with him and told him the specter must not have liked him and lowered the beam on him.

Between the heat, the feral cats hanging around that were sending Bo over the edge, and Toby's bleeding head we didn't stay as long as we probably would have. Even so, it's a well worth while place to visit if you ever are in Luling, Texas.

San Marcos

2011-09-17T21:05:00.024-05:00

Out of all the surrounding areas of Austin that I have visited, the San Marcos/New Braunfels area is my favorite. I love the natural water that comes from the Edwards Aquifer and runs through the area rivers. Spring water is so refreshing, clean and clear. I LOVE the idea of swimming in water that flows willingly from beneath Mother Earth. In my opinion, the springs are the biggest part of the beauty of this area.

Here are some highlights of our last San Marcos River trip of the year. The water is much too icy to swim in unless the temps are in the triple digits and the temps have finally gone back down to the 90's.

Our first stop was the San Marcos Nature Center. There really wasn't much to it visually. I believed it serves more as an educational center than anything.

We were told there was a hiking trail down to the river but it was so hot that we decided to drive down instead.

We ended up getting sidetracked when we passed our favorite swimming spot at Rio Vista Park and decided to take a detour. Something about the sight of the rushing rapids were just too tempting to hubby, the kid and the dog.

After we wore the dog out swimming and let us all get our dose of the rapids, we headed to our original destination the John J. Stokes River City Park. We had never been to this particular park on the river and I was curious to check it out.

It had gotten late in the day and we didn't have too much time to explore it.

I always get ambivalent about the season change this time of year. Even though this has been - and still is - a really tough summer for Central Texas, I love the summer time. At then end of every summer since I have been living in Texas I find myself looking forward to the next Summer even before Autumn begins....

Traveling the Tracks

2011-09-17T08:24:00.014-05:00

For the past few days Summer has requested to go walk the railroad tracks. Items that she finds at the edge of the tracks intrigue her...e.g. stray ties, interesting rocks and various pieces of strewed metal from the tracks. Myself? I just love to walk with her and see the fascination she derives in scouring for treasures.

With all the directing, planning, and micromanaging we do for our child's own good I think it's nice to take time out every once and awhile and watch them as they do their own thing...something that fascinates THEM whether we believe it is worthy of recognition or not.

A farm runs alongside a portion of the tracks so Bo and I took off ahead of Sum to check the cows out. Bo has heard the cows moo many times but as far as I know he has never seen any up close. The bull looking into the camera took Bo (or both of us) as a threat and began to charge at us. I don't know who was more "skeerd", me or Bo. I think Bo had met his match...

At the end of our evening walk along the tracks, Summer had walked away with a small collection of metal and I walked away with far more than what I had seeked.

Family "Staycation"

2011-08-29T20:27:00.027-05:00

Lucas came for his family visit last week. I decided weeks ago that I wanted to turn this particular visit into a sort of "family vacation" visit.

In all honesty, my ultimate goal is to make Austin (and us) so appealling that he has no other option but to pack up and move his butt here with us...after all, mother's have a right to be persistent where their children are concerned....

Anyway, I don't know if I succeeded in luring him to Texas but I certainly did have a good time trying. I think we all did. The week went off without a glitch! We had a great time with very little family bickering...well, less than usual anyway....

We spent time hanging out, swimming, peering through a telescope at night, watching T.V., eating, riding bikes, shopping, rescuing baby birds, exploring new creek areas of the greenbelt, etc.

The highlights.....

WONDER WORLD PARK, San Marcos, Texas

RIDING THE RAPIDS ON THE SAN MARCOS RIVER

SIX FLAGS FIESTA TEXAS

And as with every visit, they day he rolls out of the driveway I'm already anticipating his next visit...this holds true for each and every family member that comes to visit.

"Weekend" Getaway

2011-08-12T17:44:00.034-05:00

Last week I got a wild hair and booked us a couple of nights in Houston. We have been through Houston a few times but never actually TO Houston.

One of the benefits of living in Central Texas is that we are very conveniently located to some great cities North, South, East and West of us.

Houston just happens to be one of the cities that we have not made a visit to yet. Ironically, Houston is also the city we had planned to move to before Austin caught our eye.

I also have some cousins that live just outside of Houston that I wanted to visit so in a sense I was killing two birds with one stone.

We packed up the kid and the dog and set off Tuesday morning. I was pleasantly surprised the route was an easy one with very little traffic landing us there in just a couple of short hours.

Once we got there we got checked in, unloaded our luggage and headed to the Galleria to grab a bite to eat at the Rainforest Cafe located inside. Rainforest Cafe is overpriced and the food isn't all that great for the price but it has atmosphere. Neither Toby nor I or mall kind of people but I knew Summer would enjoy seeing the 3 story mall complete with a huge indoor ice skating rink.

With so little time and so many things to do in Houston we were having a tough time deciding what to do with our one full day in the big city.

We finally decided on the Aquarium..actually Toby and I were so indecisive we just let Summer make the choice. It was a good choice. We had a blast. I even rode some rides, something I NEVER do.

After the Aquarium we decided to walk a couple of blocks down to the WELCOME CENTER. So many things to do and so little time....we finally decided to take an elevator ride to the top of the 60 story J.PMorgan Chase Tower building and take in a scenic view of the city. It was a challenge for Toby and Sum to be up that high without getting a little nervous but I had no issues.

The view was absolutely BEAUTIFUL!! It was the first time I had ever been up that high except for in a plane.

I wondered why for such a huge city I didn't see many people walking downtown. I figured it out when we toured the "tunnel".

I envisioned the "tunnel" to be like an underground roadway system for vehicles. This was an underground travel system but for pedestrian travel. We were pretty impressed with the underground system. So impressed, matter of fact, that I didn't get any video or pictures of below. If you are curious about what the underground world looks like you can view it here.

Next we headed back to the hotel to check on Bo and rest a bit before we headed to visit my cousins.

We had delicious steak dinner and a nice evening catching up on old times and family gossiping. I also got to meet my littlest, newest cousin. A cutie pie indeed.

Another instance in which I was having so much fun I didn't get as many family pics as I would have liked. No worries though, as easy as the trip to Houston is I'm sure I will be making it there more often in the future.

Shannon and Emma...

The next morning it was time to go back home. I decided since Bo had been such a good dog by being left alone for long periods of time in a strange hotel room without soiling or destroying it that on the way home we would stop off and reward him for his good behavior.

I researched and found Lake Fayetteville at the halfway mark to home and figured it would be a nice place to stop for a swim and some exploring.

Summer endured it, but she wasn't as near as enthused as Bo was about the place...of course Summer had not been pent up in a hotel room for 2 days straight either...

It was a worthwhile getaway. I look forward to going back and exploring the Houston area in the near future.

No Other Way...

2011-08-08T22:05:00.007-05:00

...to pass an extremely hot summer than to spend time in the backyard pool. I have noticed that around August and September interest in the pool will start waining so I decided to try and spiff it up with a new pool toy.

This time of year is the best time to scoop up on some clearance pool toys and here is what I came up with....

I'm just trying to make lemonade out of lemons during this record breaking drought. I know that weather changes are fleeting. Before you know it, there will be some other weather condition to be complaining about so why not just enjoy the sunny days and hot weather for what it is????

Out and About

2011-08-05T22:14:00.005-05:00

Today we ventured out to take advantage of free museum day at the Blanton Museum of Art. I enjoy art museums for the most part but my main reason for going to the museum was to avoid the extreme heat with an indoor activity and try and spot some of the cow sculptures floating around town in the Cow Parade.

Downtown is always a nice way to pass the day.

Hello

2011-08-01T22:32:00.021-05:00

I won't sugarcoat it. Pure blogging laziness and lack of interest is the excuse I am giving for my absence. It's been so long since I even thought about my blog that I thought maybe I should visit it before it totally vanished from my mind.

I am having some issues with being able to post on some of my fellow bloggers blogs and also hear that some readers are also having trouble posting comments on mine. I don't have a whole lot of time or expertise to troubleshoot the issue, but it is annoying when I want to comment on a blog and blogger insists on posting my comment as anonymous and my readers end up having to reply a comment via facebook or e-mail instead of on my blog.

Anyway, out of blog dedication here I am again....

Nothing major has happened over the past couple of weeks. I did have a birthday come and go. July 23 I turned 47 years young.

I am so grateful to have the friends and family that I do. They all made it very special with surprise visits, much needed new running apparel, and a wonderful day spent browsing plant nursery's topped off with a very potent margarita at Baby A's....and last but certainly not least an iPad from hubby.

They all must really love me. I hope they don't expect me to be quite so creative when it comes to reciprocating...lol.

On the weather front it's been hot as blazes..today was the 50th day in a row that we had triple digit temps. July was a record for temps and this year has been the worst drought on record since 1914. Quite honestly, I don't mind the excessive heat. It beats the alternative..excessive cold. What does bother me is the drought conditions associated with the extreme temps. I'm going on my 4th year of living in Austin and I think I have seen an actual rainstorm only twice. On the flip side you never have to worry about the rain ruining your weekend plans around here...

As far as my running goes, I am still running as much as possible. I run/walk seven days a week twice a day. I try to dedicate myself to exclusively walking at least one of those days but find that I have to force my legs not to take off. I'm addicted. I do still have bad days and good days. Some days I feel like I can hardly lift my feet up far enough off the ground and other days I feel like running for miles. Either way, I love it. Running has changed so many things about me...my habits, my routines, the way I think and feel. It's my new drug of choice.

Summer...although she has a few public schooled friends, we have gotten word that her best and one and only homeschool friend for the past 3 1/2 years will be by choice attending public school this year. In so many selfish ways it's so sad for me and Summer both, but I know from personal interaction that Jordan is a very bright and personable young girl with an amazing personality who will certainly be an asset to the public school system. I cross my fingers and wish her luck and hope the system will reciprocate and be all it can be for her too....

Despite the coercion from her public schooled friends, Summer has opted to remain homeschooled. She is older and more developmentally social now, so our agenda for the upcoming "school year" will be different from in the past.

And Toby, well, Toby is just Toby. He's our soft place to fall. Most of the time he is out of sight but certainly never out of mind. He's the one that enables our household to run as efficiently and comfortably as it does. He's a very important piece to our household puzzle and if we ever lost him we couldn't function as this family as we know it

Here are some random pics from the last couple of weeks...

Summer has a flair for creating artistic looking food arrangements. She also loves to create faux dinner parties for herself and anybody else that will attend.

East Metropolitan Park Jewel

2011-07-22T21:39:00.019-05:00

An approximate mile from my house sits one of the most peaceful parks I have ever had the pleasure to visit. East Metropolitan County Park in my opinion is one of the better jewels on the more eastern side of Austin.

It sits nestled in the middle of miles of farmland and prairie. If you didn't know it was there, you may would never know.

I guess I may be a little partial to it because it's very convenient to my home, never overcrowded, quite, and clean.

There is a little something for everyone at East Metro. A pool, sports fields, catch and release fishing, disc golf, tennis and basketball courts, picnic areas, volleyball courts, indoor pavilion rentals, a paved walking trail, and a a couple of small playgrounds.

In the past 3 1/2 years I have utilized a few of the amenities at the park but lately my favorite is the disc golf course...but not for disc golf. I have found the disc golf course to be the perfect hiking/running path.

I can arrive early in the morning and hike, run, or just walk..whatever strikes my mood for the day. It's mostly shaded and when there's not a drought going on there are streams that meander throughout the course. From my estimation the course is approximately 2 to 2 1/2 miles depending on which trail you take.

Wildlife is abundant..there again, depending on the weather conditions what you may come across. Being a natural kind of "girl", this place is my mecca.

Even though East Metro has a nice paved path that loops throughout the park, I prefer to use the natural trails as opposed to pounding the pavement - which I have to do when I run my neighborhood.

Here I will give you a glimpse of what a stroll/run/hike/play through the disc golf course would look like....

The entrance into the trail..

Exiting out of the trail onto the paved path....

Cooling off in the pond is Bo's favorite part...

And back to the car....

Nice and refreshed for the day ahead.

Inks Lake..Again

2011-07-21T20:48:00.011-05:00

We drove to Inks Lake State Park this week. I can't say it was the best day but it was no where near the worst.

A portion of the park that I loved the most was bone dry and quite honestly the oppressive heat and drought conditions are beginning to put a damper on my mood. I don't really mind the heat as much as I do the lack of rain mixed with daily triple digits...

Either way, I tried to make the most of the day but found myself mostly irritable and ready to get home...

Here are highlights of our day at the Lake...

Climbing to the top to take the plunge...

Lucas will be so proud that his little sister braved to the top of the rock and took the plunge into "Devil's Hole"...even if it take her a little while to make the plunge. After that, there was no stopping her.

Day to Day - Wednesday

2011-07-16T21:27:00.016-05:00

Not sure of the details, but my dad got a little homesick so my brother was forced to head back to Alabama a day earlier. One one hand, I totally understand being homesick but on the other hand I really wish I had got to spend that extra day with my Alabama family..

I woke up this morning a bit cranky. Even my morning run didn't put a damper on my mood. I think I must have had so much fun while my out of town family was here that I hated to see the fun end so soon...I'm spoiled, I know.

Anyway, we try to do at least one activity a week that Bo can participate in and today was the day. I was so ill that I was not offering any suggestions and shooting down everything Toby suggested. Put bluntly, I was just being a hard to get along with Bitch.

Finally, I agreed reluctantly to head to Barton Springs. Not that I don't like Barton Springs, but it's 102 degrees and all the creeks are dried up. Hiking in the heat along a dry creek did not sound appealing in the least to me.

Once we got there we headed along the the very hot, 1/2 mile unshaded path towards Campell's Hole. I tried to make the best of it and walk leisurely along with Summer while Toby and Bo trekked way ahead to check on the condition of the creek.

Shortly after, here they come back down the path Toby gesturing that the hole was bone dry...just as we suspected. We headed straight back to Barton Springs toward the free part where dogs are allowed and people that are too cheap to pay the $3 dollar entrance fee into the actual spring area go.

On a hot day the ice cold spring water feels like heaven!! After sitting there watching Bo and Toby interact with all the people and dogs and Summer exploring the water my mood began to lift considerably and I was glad that I agreed on this particular destination.

I mostly sat on a rock ledge in the water and took pictures. Here are just a few to share....

See that guy in the back round of this pic? He's playing a flute of some kind. It took me forever to figure out what the noise I kept hearing in my "peripheral" hearing was. For whatever reason, folks like to hang out on the banks of the creeks and play their musical instruments. There was a guy on the other side of the creek playing a guitar...

Summer devouring a snack from the snack stand while Bo takes a cat nap after all the activity..

I had such a pleasant time that the springs are on my agenda for next week...that is if I don't come up with something more interesting to do before then..

Day to Day - Tuesday

2011-07-15T19:46:00.014-05:00

Today we headed to toob down the Comal River with my family. My dad opted to not toob down the river. I was a little worried about him having to hang out by himself while we toobed, but I really couldn't think of any other alternative for him. He's always been pretty good about entertaining himself and I hoped that today would be no different.

Because of the drought the river was way below level but it still didn't affect the float down. Schlitterbaun is nestled right against the Comal and obviously they were doing some construction that led to the closures of some of the stop-off areas of the float down..which was sort of annoying for anyone needing to take a break or ride the chute down again.

Here are some pics of our day on the Comal...

After we were shuttled back to our origin, I was glad to see dad alive and well patiently waiting on our arrival. We grabbed a bite at a local BBQ place then headed home.

Days like these are always some of my favorite memories....

Day to Day - Monday

2011-07-11T21:17:00.010-05:00

Today we consider our Friday so TGIF!! Toby's work week is Friday-Monday so our "weekend" is Tues.-Thurs.

I was more glad than usual to see the end of the week. I awoke with a spring in my step, sucked down a cup of coffee and took Bo for a run. I figured since I had awoken with such energy that I would take advantage and challenge myself and run the steep hill. I was happy that I made it further up the hill than I thought. It was a good run morning for sure.

One thing that I have noticed about myself lately is that I'm not as "fresh" as I used to be. I run in the mornings and the evenings and spend a lot of time outdoors and in the pool. I sweat a lot and always smell like chlorine or the outdoors.

I hate taking a shower when I know that in just a couple of hours I will be pouring sweat again or jumping into the pool. I guess it's sort of like not making your bed everyday because you're just going to be messing it up again that evening when you go to bed...

So since it was my "Friday" I focused on getting all the the house clean and all my chores done so that I could spend my "weekend" having nothing but fun.

Later in the afternoon I took me a nice long bath and shaved my legs. It was nice to feel clean for once...too bad Toby wasn't home to enjoy it because by the time he sees me again I will smell like sweat....

Shortly after my bath the doorbell rang. I opened the door and I was in shock to see my dad standing there!!! I guess it's true that thoughts become things because lately I have thought a lot about my dad and how long it has been since I have seen him!

Through my tears and surprise I then see my brother, my sis-in-law and niece trailing behind. Those are the BEST surprises in the world!!! As much as I love my home here in Texas and the wonderful friends I have made, there will always be that ache for my dad, brothers and my son.

Having visitors got Bo pretty excited so after they left for their hotel room to relax for the evening I took Bo for his evening walk. It was still pretty hot so I didn't do much running. I did try to run some but had a little shin pain mostly likely from my exertion on the hill this morning. I saved myself some injury and just walked briskly.

I'm excited about tomorrow. We are going to go toobing (that's how we spell it here) down the river. Not sure how my dad is going to like going down chutes (small rapids)...guess we will have to make it up to him somehow.....

Day to Day - Sunday

2011-07-10T17:56:00.019-05:00

I finally half-ass got finished with a grocery list and headed off to the grocery store early this morning. I'm grateful that I can shop when I want to and not on a 9 to 5 schedule. The grocery store is bad enough without trying to shop when it's crowded. Early morning is the best choice for me because mornings are when I am most alert.

While I was shopping I got a text from a neighbor from a neighborhood section over (we live in a large subdivision). I don't see her very often or know her all that well and only see her when we do neighborhood clean-ups, but yesterday we got to talking about the creek and the greenbelt. Her house sits right on the front of one of the largest parts of the greenbelt where the creek is located. I told her about my dilemma of trying to find the creek through the overgrown grass.

She offered to lead me through to it from behind her house. I was really excited that someone was willing to go trekking with me. Toby and Summer aren't as keen about wandering the snaky greenbelt in the summer heat as I am.....

Since the grocery store trip had hampered my morning run with Bo, I grabbed him and took him with me.

I was very pleased to find out my neighbor was just as intrigued with the greenbelt area as I am. Matter of fact, she informed me of a lot of the history of the area and the names of some of the vegetation and animals that I had always wondered about. She also told me she has excavated many fossils and found arrowheads and Indian artifacts and even some shark teeth in the creek. Boy, she had my attention!!!

She lead me meandering all through the area for a couple of miles showing me different paths and sites. I'll probably never remember them all but as long as I follow the creek I should be okay.

We came upon what appeared to be an old homestead. We could tell it had been put there next to once the remains of a wet creek. I couldn't help trying to imagine what the life of whoever lived there was like living there on that piece of land in the middle of the prairie.

It was really interesting to find old pottery and bottle pieces laying around. We dug and around in the crumblings a little while until something ran out from underneath the rubble and startled us. Bo almost took my arm off when he tried to dart off after whatever the bolt of lightening was...

There was an owl that kept following us from tree to tree hooting-during the day no less...it was kinda creepy..

We came upon the pond that was bone dry from the drought. It was interesting to be able to see the bottom of the pond without water...

Julie claims that she has found shark teeth and arrowheads along this creek side. One of these days when it gets a little cooler I plan on dragging Toby out here to do some heavy duty artifact hunting....

We trekked around a couple of miles and I could tell Bo was starting to lose strength. Because of his muscular physique he can't take the mid day heat. I didn't think we were going to be so long out there so I didn't come prepared with any drinking water. Luckily Julie brought enough for everyone..including Bo.

I was having so much fun I didn't really notice how hot it was. We headed out and Julie lead us out the way towards the path on my side of the neighborhood. No wonder I couldn't find it..the entrance was completely covered in Johnson Grass.

It was only by luck that none of us were snake bit out there...

Day to Day - Saturday

2011-07-09T21:23:00.010-05:00

I got up early this morning drank my coffee and headed out the door to run Bo. We took a little detour this morning and trekked through the back of the neighborhood through the greenbelt. I was in search of the old dirt road that lead to the creek. It's been a long while since I have been back there and since there is very little traffic down to the creek, the road had completely disappeared underneath the prairie grasses over the summer.

The entrance of the trail was so overgrown that I wasn't able to find the path that lead to the creek. I decided to just go where the animal paths and Bo's nose took me and enjoy the scenery. It was a nice change for both Bo and I. There were a lot of new smells for him and I enjoyed checking out some new territory.

After I got back from our extra long run I dropped Bo off and headed to help out with a little neighborhood cleanup. Because of the fact that there is a lot of wooded areas trailing through our neighborhood some residents think that it is also a dumping ground. Humans are so pathetic...

By the time I got back to the house the rest of my family was rousing. It's obvious that I don't need quite as much sleep as my hubby or child...or maybe that I like to get my day started a little earlier than they do..

I made us some brunch and did some much needed vacuuming before Toby left for work.

After he left I went and took me an afternoon dip in the pool. There is nothing like the peace and tranquility I get in my pool...I'm glad I have started to utilize it this year.

Quite honestly, except for my evening run with Bo, I pretty much slacked the rest of the day doing only the bare essentials of housework.

Shame on me...

Day to Day - Friday

2011-07-08T07:48:00.015-05:00

I suppose since I don't have anything interesting to post lately I'll just resume posting a daily diary since it has become obvious that is the only activity my blog will get anytime soon.

Summer and I had an early morning play date so I missed my morning run with Bo for the first time in weeks. It made me want to cry to see his black and white face staring out the front window at me in confusion as my car pulled out of the driveway.....I also wanted to cry because I was missing my morning "fix". I did manage to get in my ab workout before I left....

PLAY DATE TODAY...at a local splash park then on to Chik Fi la for Cow Appreciation Day. It's always nice to have adult conversation but I have come to the conclusion that toddlers are never satisfied and tend to whine a lot and that trying to get in depth conversations with mom's of toddlers is close to impossible. Now I know why my mom always had old ladies as friends....

I also found out that people will come far and wide and dress in any form or fashion to receive free food.

I stopped by the Dollar Tree on the way home to pick up some toilet paper. Toilet paper seems to go quicker than any other commodity on our household. I'm still not sure who the culprit is, but I can tell you that it's not me or Bo. I'm too cheap and Bo uses the carpet to wipe his ass...

We got home around 1:00p.m. and as usual I start resuming any unfinished chores. Dishes had to be unloaded out of the dishwasher and a 2 loads of laundry needed to be folded.

I then decided to go outside and replant some plants. I moved my more drought tolerant Salvia to the back of the yard and my...whatever it is that seems to wilt every couple of days closer to the water spigot. I then dug up some Johnson Grass and some other viney stuff that I had let grow and run along the fence in hopes that it would turn out to be pretty and flowery. All it has done is attract more wasps, so I pulled it all up. I also scooped some poop.

By this time I had worked up a sweat. I have found that since I have been keeping my home thermostat on 82 during the day and being outdoors running/walking and working in the yard I have worked up a slight tolerance to the heat. I think I have now figured out how our ancestors lived without a/c...they acclimated themselves. Now if I could only convince my hubby that 82 degrees is a comfy inside temp.....

I decided to treat myself to a dip in the pool. I didn't think I would ever really utilize our pool but I have recently figured out that it wasn't the pool that I didn't like but the people in the pool with me that I didn't like. Toby gropes me and Summer thinks I am her personal water play equipment. When they are in there with me I never get to just float around on my raft enjoying the sun beat on my face while making pictures out of the clouds and watching Caracara's...aka Mexican Eagles fly overhead.

After I relaxed in the pool for awhile I came inside and watched an episode of Teen Mom. I had once seen an article that claimed that Teen Mom glamorized teen pregnancies. From my perspective it's the scariest show I have ever seen. It makes me scared to get pregnant and I'm 47 and post menopause!

The sun had finally set enough that it was then time to do my evening walk/run with Bo. I was looking forward to it because I had missed our morning run. Toby scolded me the other day because I run every day, but just missing one run had made me feel less conditioned...or maybe it's just all in my head...

When I got back from my run I made Summer and her friend a chocolate peanut butter smoothie and went upstairs to veg out on my computer till bedtime.

Just an ordinary day in an ordinary way.

Balance

2011-06-26T21:55:00.013-05:00

A couple of weeks ago Toby and Summer had taken in a movie at the theatre so I decided to take the rare opportunity that I had to myself and scour the local Goodwill. I love Goodwill's and Thrift Stores. You never know what your going to find, but I get the most pleasure from scanning the book section.

Books are expensive retail but you can pick them up at the thrift store for little to nothing...and if you're like me, I have a wide reading variety so I'm not hard to please when it comes to reading material.

Anyway, I was looking through the cook book section and found this book called FIT FOR LIFE. I picked it up and flipped through it and found it initially interesting enough to purchase. I read the book and got a lot of useful information out of it and some of the raw food recipes even look very edible.

I'll have to admit I like to eat and have a hearty appetite for most any type of food. I guess I'm making up for spending most of my younger years being super thin (emaciated as my mother used to call me)and not having a healthy appetite.

Anyway, even though most of the recipes in the book looked good I realized that most of them had ingredients that would not be readily available in my local HEB or Walmart. I also decided that not everyone in my family would like the recipe.

I have a hard enough time trying to figure out a simple weekly menu much less one that requires me to exercise my brain or run from store to store.

So, I finally decided that I would just keep more veggies and fruits in the fridge and buy healthier brands of the foods that we eat frequently. For example, instead of buying the cheap white bread, I'll replace it with whole grain bread and eat more salads with our meals. Or buy real butter instead of spreadable margarine.

Per the advice from the FIT FOR LIFE book I started eating only fruits and veggies for breakfast. I can feel the difference. The book talked about how much energy your body takes to digest food and it's best to eat easily digestible foods up until noon so you won't have an energy crash before noon time. Plus, since I have been doing my morning running/walking routine I find that I don't want anything heavy on my stomach for a couple of hours after my run.

It all boils down to a couple of things. I love to eat and I don't want to deny myself the foods that I really love, BUT I can make a few changes that allow me to still eat the foods I love and remain healthy.

Every part of our lives are about balance.

Mini Vacation to the Coast of Texas

2011-06-24T21:28:00.041-05:00

I have noticed the older Summer gets, the less she remembers about living in Mobile. One thing she does seem to always have a clear memory on is the beach. Every summer since we have been living in Texas, she will ask to go to the beach.

As for me, I really don't miss humidity, sticky sand, limp hair, salt water, or the aroma of dead sea life. I do agree the ocean is beautiful and serene though, so we don't pass up a chance to go once or twice a year....for me, if for no other reason than to not forget my roots.

I have to say that I really enjoyed our 3 day getaway even if it did rain a whole day while we were there. I think we were all in need of a getaway. Nobody argued, nobody whined or bitched, and we all just enjoyed being together without any other obligations to get in the way.

The drive to Padre Island is an easy and painless 3 hour drive. Never any traffic issues..matter of fact, I just now realize how desolate that stretch from Luling to the coast is.

We decided to get to the beach via Port Aransus just because I like riding the ferry across the bay to the coastline.

After we checked into our hotel and got settled, we checked out Packery Channel Park

It had a nice bird viewing set up and it was on the bay, but other than that I didn't really see anything "parkish" about the place....

On the day it rained we took in a museum, The Corpus Christi Museum of Science and History.
I give this museum a big thumbs up. We were there a few hours and still didn't even finish seeing everything it had to offer. Stomachs were beginning to rumble though and I also was more than a bit nervous about our dog creature roaming uncaged in our $100 per night hotel room.

Instead of kenneling Bo, we opted to take him with us. I was more than a little worried about it for more reasons than one...the main one him chewing up the hotel room while we were out and about to the places we couldn't take him. Bo is used to being in his kennel when we are away so I wasn't sure how he may react being kennel free in a strange hotel room.

Lucky for him, he passed the test with flying colors. After 5 hours of being gone we walked in to find him nestled on top of one of the beds only to look up at us and yawn when we walked in. Nothing gnawed. No wet or soiled floors. I guess we have finally mostly established ourselves as the mom and pop alpha dog. Good Dog!!

Here are some highlights of our day at the museum...

Outside the museum there was a pretty cool "water garden"...

The weather finally cleared enough that we were able to spend our last day there on the beach..the whole reason for the drive. The water was clear of seaweed and there were some good waves to ride. Bo was hilarious with the waves. He figured out if he was going to escape the wrath of the waves engulfing him he would have to jump them as they came upon him. I was laughing so hard at him I didn't even think about videoing it...

In an effort to keep up my exercise routine I spent most of my time running/walking the mutt up and down the beach. What was suppose to be an enjoyable routine turned out to be mostly annoying. Bo spent most of his time jolting me up into the air in an effort to catch the seagulls soaring just slightly above our heads. Minus a few brownie points for Bo that particular day.

Here are some highlights of our day at the Bob Hall Pier....

As much as I enjoyed our 3 day getaway, it's always nice to see my sunny yellow welcoming home. :-)

Run For Your Life

2011-06-18T21:04:00.016-05:00

Exercise has never been my thing but I'm far from being a lazy person. I have always had the desire to get moving but just never could find a form of exercise that satisfied my niche or that I felt comfortable doing. I bore easily so any sort of stationary exercise like yoga, weight lifting, or aerobics bores me to tears. I get no satisfaction out of exercise that seems to have no propulsion to it.

I did find that I have always enjoyed walking and hiking. Unfortunately at this time in my life I don't get to hike near as much as I would like, but I do look forward to one day having the pleasure to do it a bit more. Kids do grow up eventually...

Back in December of 2010 I took the Christmas money my dad always so generously sends me every year and went to Academy and bought me an ab board and comfy warm-up attire that would motivate me to get out and walk in the cold.

I was doing pretty good there for awhile. I was faithfully working on my ab board every day and had managed to work up to 60 sit-ups a day with ease. As for walking....well, somehow I just couldn't motivate myself to get out the door and walk against the cold wind chill temps most days. My walking was sporadic to say the least. I ended up spending most of my time on my bike so that I could make my regime in the cold quick and painless. I also found that I like riding a bike for pleasure more than I do for exercise.

That's when it hit me. I could run. I have a couple of friends that run and my brother who is a year younger than me even manages to work morning runs into his busy schedule. If they can do it surely I can too, I thought.

Before I could even implement my plan to start myself on a running training program my little Brandi died and I lost all motivation to move..period. I even quit doing my ab board which I had become pretty skilled at.

Here is the really cool part of this story....

When we first adopted our dog Bo in January 2011, the name he had been given by the shelter and on his paperwork was "Hanno". They told us we could name him whatever we wanted that since they didn't know his real name. One of the volunteers had temporarily named him Hanno.

A couple of months ago while browsing the web, I came upon this website that gave the meaning of different names. I thought about the name Bo had been given in the shelter...Hanno, and how odd of a name I thought it was so I searched it on the website.

I was a little taken aback to see that the name Hanno means "Gift from God". I mostly thought about all the times he had seemed to be a gift from Satan...

Then I realized how much a gift he has been for me. Because Bo is a high maintenance dog he needs a good bit of exercise. I am forced to get up and move whether I want to or not. He gets a mile and half morning walk and I usually walk him about a mile in the evening when Toby is at work.

A few weeks ago I thought about how all the dog walking was taking up some of my free time and if I could just move a little faster it would cut my time in half. I thought back to before Brandi died and how I had wanted to incorporate running into my life.

So with Bo on leash, I started to jog a little at first. Bo thought it was great. He didn't have to drag me along anymore. I won't lie, those first couple of weeks I was winded as hell and panting for my life after less than a block, but each day I pushed myself forward a little more staggering running and fast paced walking.

After a couple of weeks I found that I could run a little farther each time and with less gasping for air. I also found that I really enjoyed the running after the initial shock of first time runner trauma. My legs and calves stopped aching and they began to feel stronger.

So now my goal every day is to run a little farther each day. I find that I actually look forward to my run/walks now. This is the longest I have ever stayed with an exercise regime and I find that I am getting a little addicted to the way it makes me feel.

I feel different. I feel more confident and stronger. I won't go into to details, but my digestive system works better. I feel more in control of my life. I have something to work toward. I don't get as winded or tired as I did before. I have more energy and I don't feel like I have been ran over by a truck when I get up in the mornings.

If I feel this good after only a few weeks of training, I can only imagine how I will feel when I can run a mile non-stop...or two miles...or three, etc.

I have a goal. I want to be able to hike the hills, backpack and maybe even run a small marathon or two in the future. I'm almost 47 years old and I have no desire to be a geriatric. I don't want to be one of those older folks you see sitting around complaining about aches and pains or what medications they are on or when their next doctor appt. is. I want to be out there running and walking and seeing and enjoying my world with these years I have left for myself.

I can only thank the monster dog named "Hanno" for my motivation. He is the reason I get out that door everyday. He literally prods me with his paw to get up and out the door. If it weren't for him I'm very sure that Toby nor Summer would drag me up off the couch to take a run/walk.

Thank you Hanno!!

City Park

2011-06-16T20:48:00.013-05:00

The drought has taken it's toll on most of the creeks and rivers so we have had to resort to the last to go, the lakes.

In a last hopeful effort to locate some swimming in one of our favorite creeks we first headed to Bull Creek. Although there were traces of water, there was certainly not enough to feel safe to swim in. After all, who likes to swim in stagnant water...except for maybe a dog.

We decided to head to Emma Long Metropolitan Park on Lake Austin just a few miles down the road. We hit the jackpot there.

The water was crispy cold. It felt like spring water it was so cold..which of course felt great on a triple digit temp day.

Here are some memories from our day...

Help! I'm drowning and I Can't Get Up

2011-06-10T17:45:00.006-05:00

Even though I lived my whole life very close to water, I have never been totally comfortable in it. For me, water is scary. I can swim, but even so I feel very insecure in water with waves or water I can't touch the bottom.

The other day I came much too close to drowning.

Here is my story...

At the swimming hole me, Toby, Summer and Bo were all out on a rock that sat in the middle of the hole. To get to the rock you had to swim from the shore across a few yards of deep section.

After a while, I decided to take Bo back with me back to the shore so Toby and Summer could splash around without having to keep an eye on Bo.

I grabbed the rope we had tied to his collar to give him more distance to swim and took off to shore with him paddling beside me. For reasons I don't know, he decided that he would hitch a ride back to the shore on my back.

When he jumped on my back he immediately took me under. I wasn't expecting him to do that so it took me by surprise and I took in some water. He's 70lbs of muscle and I'm not really that big of a gal so he had me pretty far under while he clung to my back.

While still submerged with him on top of me I reached up and tried to push him off my back. Because I was deep I had nothing to firm my stand so I could push him off. Every time I tried to push him off a little he would immediately grab back onto my back. All the while, I am still submerged.

Not being a swimmer I was running quickly out of breath while I was being held under. I tried one more time to push him off of me and he immediately clung back on to my back.

It's at this point that the fear and panic ran through me. I couldn't get him off of me. This is also the point where I knew I couldn't hold my breath any longer. I started to intake water in my mouth as I opened to gasp for air.

My biggest thought was that Toby and Summer were playing and weren't realizing that I was drowning and there was no way for me to alert them. I was scared. I started to realize that this is how I was going to exit my existence here on this plane.

At the exact moment that I was about to relax and let it be (because I could no longer hold my breath) I felt the dog being pulled off of me. I immediately came to the surface coughing and crying in relief. I choked and sputtered and my chest was burning. I had never been so grateful to see Toby. He has always taken good care of me and that day was no different for him.

The next thing I saw was Summer standing only a few feet away laughing. She was oblivous to what was going on. She thought it was funny the dog was riding my back on the way to shore. In her child-like innocent mind she saw no danger. She saw the dog riding my back like she does in the pool.

Luckily, Toby was smart enough to figure out that I was not having fun and came to my rescue. It took him a few minutes to pull the dog off of me because he had to find a shallow enough place to get standing so he could pull him off of me with the rope on his collar.

I don't know how long this whole scenario was, but for me it felt like a very long time.

It got me to thinking about how easy and quick it is for someone to drown and nobody notice until it's too late.

How ironic that this article was sent in my e-mail the night of my experience. I think it important information that needs to be shared.

Blue Hole

2011-06-08T19:40:00.017-05:00

I have a swimming pool in my backyard that just turned a year old. So you ask; Why in the world would I be going to search out area swimming holes?? The answer to that question is that I still after almost 4 years of living in the Austin area have not grown bored of this place. There are waaaaaayyyyy too many interesting places left unexplored for me to be stuck home in the confines of my backyard on a free day. My backyard swimming pool is my "cooling station" for lazy weekend afternoons, after yard work, to entertain neighbors or company, or after hot afternoon dog walks.

We headed a little north of Austin to Georgetown to check out their pop up campers (remember, my latest obsession).

As we passed over the San Gabriel River, I was in awe to see the river was bone dry..another area river casualty of the drought.

We were in luck with the Blue Hole though. Although portions of it were dry there was still a section that had a desirable swimming area.

We had been to this hole a couple of years ago but for whatever reason I can't remember we didn't swim it.

Toby and Summer had a blast swimming and splashing around while I took a load of pics. After a while, I became bored with my camera and besides it looked like they were all having so much fun out there splashing around.

The water felt good in the 100 degree temps and we were all having a good time watching the teenagers jump off the cliff. Bo was also having a blast swimming around trying to catch the dragon flies skimming the top of the water.

We have learned that although Bo loves the water he has a habit of loosing track of his ability to stay afloat. He often uses us a perch to catch his breath when he gets tired of swimming.

Which brings me to my next sentence. I had a slight mishap when he decided to try to use me as a floatation device while I was attempting to lure him back to shore. In order not to busy this post with too much information I will post about the "mishap" in a separate post. I think it needs it's own attention for more reasons than one.

For now, here are some pics of our day at the Blue Hole...

5 Mile Dam

2011-06-02T20:29:00.014-05:00

This week was one of those weeks where the "have to's" took over. I almost ditched our weekly outdoor activity because there were so many other responsibilities that needed to be taken care of.

The more I thought about it the more I was determined not to let the "have to's" take over our weekend. I finagled a bit and integrated some fun into an errand day.

Toby had to make his monthly trip to the medical supply store and I wanted to check out some pop-up campers - my latest obsession - in nearby Buda, Texas. It was a toasty day so I decided that I would research swimming holes in the Buda area and we would take an afternoon dip after our have to's were done.

I don't know much about Buda other than we looked at a couple of houses there when we first moved to Austin. I totally relied on the Internet to offer me direction for a swimming hole in the slightly unfamiliar territory.

I found one near the r.v place called Five Mile Dam. It was a shot in the dark but I figured at best we could say we had been there done that.

True to form, when we drove up we got the old familiar river gone dry that is so common to this area. Luckily there was enough river left that the "kids" were able to splash around and cool off.

I could tell this is a place that's really nice when the river is up. I plan on going back one day to explore more of the area.

Here you can see how much of the river is dried up...

Bo loves to swim but he is so heavy that he loses strength after he's been paddling for a while. He will swim to the first person he gets to and use them as a perch until he rests a minute...

A farm on the way out of the park area. I love the way the cows and horses look when they are grazing out in the field....

Logged off and Plugged Into Life

2011-05-30T21:55:00.007-05:00

Not long ago Toby and I discussed something that when I later thought more in depth about, really bugged me.

We were out and about on our usual weekly errands when Toby pointed out that if we were to get into a car accident (this thought is not far-fetched considering the reputation of the drivers in the city we reside) and we were all killed that Bo would be locked in his kennel for an indefinite amount of time and would possibly perish himself.

After all, we don't have any family close by and what few friends we do have we usually don't talk to on a daily basis. As far as our neighbors go, they may would eventually wonder where we were, but there again it would probably be at least a week or two before anyone would be curious enough to check on us.

This prompted me to re-think my connections. I thought about it hard and seriously. There have been numerous times that I have opted to spend time on FB or watching t.v instead of going out and socializing with the neighbors in the evenings when they usually come out of their abodes.

I'm the sort of person that takes FB seriously. It's my way of socializing without having to put out much effort. I take notice when one my FB friends have not been online for a while. I'm not one of those people that just accept anyone and everyone as a friend so I don't have a thousand friends to keep up with. I notice when someone is missing and on a few occasions privately messaged them to make sure everything was okay. There again, it took me a couple of weeks to notice someone was missing...unless they are a one of my closer FB friends.

I decided last week that I was going to disconnect myself and take a break from FB and the computer for awhile - this excludes my blog, so that I could start connecting to real life and real people.

I want someone to miss me if I go missing. I don't want my dog to perish in his kennel because nobody misses me for weeks.

With technology this day and age it can connect us all around the world to anybody or anything in a matter of seconds but it so impersonal. So many times we stay connected to our computers or Ipods, Iphones, etc. when in actuality we are sooooo disconnected.

I have been making a point these past few weeks to get out and hang out with my neighbors, to meet ones that I have never met, to say hi to the ones I pass by who are out in their yards working or the ones I pass who who are also out walking their dogs or kids.

I want people to notice when I am missing. I want them to say, "Hey, I haven't seen Laura out walking the past couple of days..let's go check on her."

I want to see my friends every week. I want to text them just to say. "Hey! Hope you have a great day!" so they miss me when they don't hear from me.

I want to plug into life...REAL LIFE.

Sporting Tattoos

2011-05-28T22:06:00.009-05:00

Most of my readers, if they know me, read my profile page, or read my blog regularly, know that my hubby is a tattoo artist.

He was a tattoo artist when I first met him, still is, and probably always will be. The first thing most people ask me when they find out I am married to a tattooist is "do I have any tattoos?"

Well, the answer might be obvious if you have to ask then I must not have any visible ones if any at all.

But the answer to this question is "yes", I do have two tattoos. I had a small heart with wings I got when I was 17 on my hip at my panty line. While hubby and I were dating he promptly covered it with a dragon silhouetted against a sun. Not long after that I allowed him to tattoo my shoulder blade with a piece of art that looked much better on paper than it did on my skin.

Let me make note here: When I first met my husband he was 24 years old and not nearly as an experienced artist as he is now. Me, his brother, and a few other choice friends were his own personal guinea pigs in his amateur days. The things we did back then for a free tattoo...

So now, I have two tattoos on my body that I wish I could take an eraser to....especially when I see the work he turns out on other folks after several years of experience behind him. Unfortunately, it takes a lot more money to get rid of tattoos than it does to draw them on.

Here is the thing though. I have always loved tattoos. Since I have moved to Austin I have seen some really beautiful artwork plastered on folks. I've been thinking ALOT lately about having hubby tattoo my arm. I have always wanted an arm tattoo but lived in a area where arm tattoos on women are viewed as "trashy" or "unbecoming". Here, young, old, rich, poor, professional or not, sport tattoos without a second glance.

Some people can be funny in their opinions of older folks sporting tattoos. Their concern is always seems to be what the tattoo will look like when they are 80. My first thought is always, who cares what the tattoo will look like when your 80. Old skin is not physically attractive no matter which way you look at it..tattoo or not. I highly doubt a sagging tattoo is going to make a bit of a difference in the way my 80 year old ass looks. I'm still going to be old and nobody's going to be looking real hard at me anyway.

So, now it's just a matter of me making that final skin altering decision....

WILL SHE, OR WILL SHE NOT, WILL SHE, OR WILL SHE NOT?..............

Somerville Lake

2011-05-25T21:51:00.013-05:00

This week our day trip was to Somerville Lake. It's a state park but I was a little iffy about going at first.

I always do my research before I make a decision for an hour or more trip out of town. Nothing like wasting a tank of gas that just ends in disappointment. Well, quite honestly, it doesn't bother me to drive even if the purpose is none other than sight-see but other un-named younger family members tend not to like to just drive around for hours without a promising destination.

So, the reason I was iffy was that in my research I saw there was some park construction going on that may lead to some closures in different parts of the lake. There was also a restriction for dogs in the swimming area.

After careful thought, I finally decided we would take our chances. At least we would know if it would be worth the trip back or if we needed to cross it off our favorites list.

As a family rule, I am the one that plans when and where we take our trips. Toby is elected the navigator so I rely on him to let us know which is the quickest and easiest route to our destination - in turn, he usually relys on our GPS in combination with his IPhone map.

I have recently made note that I really, really, really need to update my GPS. The Austin area has changed rapidly over the past decade so "Miss GPS" as I so lovingly call her, is sometimes not always the best "person" to rely on for directions.

Somehow an hour drive out of town turned out to be a couple of hours. To top it off, Toby and I were both on the wrong page about exactly WHAT PART of the Somerville Lake we were going. Lake Somerville is HUGE and expanses many miles depending on which area of the lake you choose to visit.

We also were having a problem finding a place to grab a bite to eat. The portion of the lake we were going was in the middle of nowhere...or at least anywhere reputable. We did manage to find a Dairy Queen where we watched a sideshow out the window of a redneck fight in the parking lot. Interesting for sure.

After we ate we managed to find a Chamber of Commerce in Somerville and got some information on the best area of the lake to go with a kid and a pet in tow.

We were directed to Welch Park just a couple of miles down the road.

The minute we drove into the entrance of the park I was super impressed...and glad we finally were at our destination.

Best of all, there were no crowds and plenty of beach to walk along. The water was a comfy temp and perfect for swimming.

This lake would be a perfect place to camp. One of these days maybe the burn ban will be lifted and some serious camping can be done.

Overall, it turned out to be a great day at the lake. And even better, we took a different route home so we cut our travel time in half on the way back home.

How Do You Feel??

2011-05-19T20:03:00.010-05:00

I heard something the other day that really resonated with me. After I heard it, I kept thinking about it and couldn't get it out of my mind. I feel it is important enough that I thought others may want to use it as food for thought.

The other day, I caught a glimpse of a segment of Oprah while I was folding clothes. She was interviewing an author that was unfamiliar to me, but one sentence she said jumped out from the t.v. and spoke to me in maximum volume.

HOW YOU LOOK AT A CHILD (OR ADULT) WHEN THEY ENTER THE ROOM SHOWS THEM HOW YOU FEEL ABOUT THEM

That one sentence stripped me down to the core and showed me a side of myself that made me want to bow in shame. If there is truly a judgement day this must be what it will feel like.

How many times have my children walked in the door and I immediately review their appearance, correct them about some prior offense, question them about a decision that needed to be made, or immediately put them to work doing chores without even looking at them...REALLY LOOKING AT THEM.

What about my husband?? How many times has he walked in the door and I immediately direct my problems of the day on him or inform him of the things that needed to be done. Or even worse, directed my bad mood onto him as if it were his fault the minute he walked in the door....without even a hello.

Since that segment of Oprah the other day I have tried to make it a conscious effort to really SEE my family when they walk in the door. Before anything else they should SEE and KNOW that I LOVE them. That I am HAPPY to see them. That I TREASURE them above all things.

I want my children, my husband, and even my friends to know how I really FEEL about them the minute they see my face...

Day Trip This Week...

2011-05-18T18:37:00.034-05:00

Palmetto State Park was our day trip destination for the week. I've had this one on my list for awhile and just now got a chance to check it off.

Only an hour drive from our home of prairie and cactus, we entered a very familiar tropical feeling atmosphere of humidity, dense vegetation, moss, shade trees, and as the name implies...wall to wall Palmettos. Ironically, there were prickly pears and native grasses and trees intertwined in this tropical setting.

Being there really took me back to my days of living on the southern coast of Alabama. As we were walking along I could feel the pockets of humidity. I half-expected to witness an afternoon shower...but then again, we were still in Texas.

Our first stop was the lookout bluff...

The park was full of little short trails dotted throughout the park. We chose a hiking trail around the lake first. Before we set out, the "kids" had to play on the playground equipment...

Looks like somebody wasn't too scared to jump right into snake lake to get a drink and cool off...

Some other pics of our stroll around the lake...

Next we moved on to another trail...

Heading to the last trail of the day, we passed another small playground. This one had one of those old-timer slides like I used to slide on when I was a kid. I couldn't resist taking a slide down for old times sake...

The last trail was short and chock full of dwarf palmettos. I thought out loud about rooting up a couple of them for around my pool, but hubby informed me in front of Summer that would be stealing from a state park. Can't very well break the law..not in front of my kid anyway..lol..

There is also fishing, canoe and paddle boat rentals, camping facilities, and cabins.

I give Palmetto State Park a thumbs up.

My Bucket List

2011-05-14T19:36:00.018-05:00

In just a couple of months my personal numbers will be rolling over to 47 years old. I'm at the least, half-way through life. WOW, when I think about it, if I were to live at least until I am 80 years old that means I would have to continue to live almost as long as I already have. That feels like a LONG DAMN TIME. Something instinctively tells me I probably won't live to 80 anyway...

Most everyone has a bucket list whether they realize it or not. Things that you say.."I'd like to do that." Lately, I have been thinking about the things I would like to do before I leave this Earthly plane...my Bucket List.

Here is my list in no specific order of importance.

Backpack/Hike across America

Go to a strip club with my husband

Learn to belly dance...and have the confidence to perform it in front of an audience

Personally meet Oprah Winfrey...I love Oprah

Spend Christmas in a snowy climate

Learn Spanish

Sit in Barnes and Nobles and drink a beverage while I read a book

Take an art class

Travel around the USA in an RV

Swim naked in a tropical ocean on a deserted island with my lover of choice

Take a pilgrimage to South America

Go on a cruise with my whole extended family

Visit a real psychic

Take photography lessons

Take my kids to Disney World TOGETHER

Sew a quilt

Cut my hair really short

This is just my short list. Before it's over I may add or take away from this list. As for this moment, this is my Bucket List.

I bet I have you thinking about your Bucket List now...

Moments To LIFE

2011-05-05T20:17:00.027-05:00

Ya know, we haven't done anything that would be considered cool or interesting all week, but I for one, have enjoyed it nonetheless.

Here is a an overview..

TUESDAY: We have started trying to deem Tuesdays our chore/errand/work around the house day. So, we spent Tuesday working in the yard. I didn't mind at all. Although it doesn't sound like much fun, I find pulling out Johnson Grass stalk by stalk rather relaxing...I know, I'm weird.

It was also the first Tuesday of the month which is our monthly 4-H meeting. It was also new officer election night. Summer got nominated for Historian/Reporter. (collects pictures, news, reports on 4-H activities and events)

Unfortunately, she got beat by one vote. I know she was just as disappointed as I was because after the meeting she kept tearing up about random odd things. I guess you could call it emotional displaced aggression..lol.

She wasn't alone. I was a bit disappointed too. I knew this was something she would have been good at and enjoyed. As much as she loves the social aspect of 4-H there aren't really a whole lot of other 4-H activities she enjoys. I was sort of rooting hard for her to win the nomination. O'well, we don't always get what we want and there is always next year. She did make delegate though...again. She wasn't really excited about that. Making Council Delegate is sort of like getting a third place ribbon...in my opinion anyway.

I do have to say I was very impressed with her standing up and giving an off the fly speech as to why she would make a good Historian.

After our meeting we had our annual dinner at Ramos. I think it was the best part of the evening for old and young alike.

WEDNESDAY: (Holding head in shame) I had agreed to a playdate for Summer with her friend Jordan. Well, lets just say it was one of those mornings where I just didn't get going as early as I should have.

My solution was to just go grab Jordan and bring her to our house for awhile. One thing I love about having older kids is you don't see them unless they are hungry or need to ask permission for something.

I think they had fun...

THURSDAY: It was time for Bo to get a deep clean so we dropped him off at the dog groomers while we took Summer rock climbing. I had a Groupon that I had bought for Austin Rock Gym a few months ago and I had to use it this week before it expired. I figured it would give Summer a feel for real rock climbing.

I'm just going to go ahead and say right now, if I ever had to rely on my own strength to rock climb up the side of a mountain I would die. It takes a massive amount of upper body strength not to mention your arms and fingers have to be strong enough to hold your own body weight.

Summer seemed to enjoy the climbing and managed to climb pretty high up. I think she would have climbed higher up but the higher she got the more insecure she got. There were no ropes or anything to help with security. I think she enjoyed it enough that it was well worth my $5. Toby made the point that Lucas would have liked it. Yes, he would have and I'm sure if he had been there BOTH of my kids would have been at the top.

When we picked up Bo he smelled nice and fresh. Call me crazy, but although I like my animal clean, I still prefer them to have a slight animal smell to them. After two days Bo still reeks of dog soap.

And, he says...."Why in the hell do I have this sissy blue ribbon wrapped around my neck mama?"

The Little Guy

2011-04-29T18:20:00.016-05:00

The past few months I have been thinking a lot about the little guy. You know, the guy that gets no recognition because his/her contribution to society is not considered glamorous, commendable, important, recognizable, valuable, significant, etc.

I remember once while I was watching the Price Is Right, Drew Carey was passing the mic doing his usual questioning of the contestants - where do you live, what do you do for a living, tell me about your life kind of stuff.

The first contestant was a female. He asked her what she did and she said.."I'm a stay at home mom." He haphazardly acknowledged it and quickly passed the mic to the male contestant.

Drew asked contestant #2 the same question. The male contestant proceeded to tell Drew that he was a helicopter pilot for the military. Boy, this really excited Drew and he went on to pat the helicopter pilot on the back for the wonderful job he had and how his family must be so proud of him.

I found it a little ironic that Drew was so proud of a man that possibly, if not most likely, had a hand in killing many a stay at home mom's innocent son(s) while doing such a commendable job....

Anyway, for whatever reason that episode of Price is Right sticks out in my mind.

It helped bring to my attention all the people who get no recognition for a job well done.

The garbage man for instance. I'd hate to see what my home and yard would look like if there were no garbage men.

Janitors - I bet the employees of some establishments don't even think about how that clean toilet they are sitting on got that way or how their garbage can got so empty overnight.

What about the parks? If there were not anyone picking up dead limbs, keeping trails maintained and picking up trash a park experience would not be as pleasant.

Oh, and what about customer service? These people probably make chump change and have to be the subject of displaced aggression daily and most likely hourly.

The list goes on.

Why don't we all take out time in our daily lives to thank and acknowledge the little guy. I think his job is just as important as anybody elses because without him some other more important guy would be doing his job.

Lake Pflugerville

2011-04-27T19:38:00.010-05:00

I had a ton of backed up chores awaiting me today. I thought better - then I decided I didn't care.

We took off to Lake Pflugerville for a little while. The day was too pretty to waste on chores.

No sense in wasting a perfectly beautiful day on chores, they will be there when I get back.

Easter

2011-04-25T20:56:00.021-05:00

I was excited when Lucas called me a few days before Easter and informed me he would be making the long drive to Austin for the weekend. I have a million reasons to love that kid, but him taking out time and energy to make that long drive as frequently as he does just to see his ole' mom, sis, and step dad makes my heart melt.

We ended up not really doing a whole lot but hanging out together. That was perfectly fine with me. I find the most comfort in just having us all together under the same roof like we used to be.

Lucas helped me plant some yuccas I got from the dump last week (don't ask). Lucky for him we have a nice pool to cool off in....

Saturday morning me and Lucas got up early. He went one way and I went the other.

Mr. Glutton for Punishment just had to ride the trails at Emma Long. Mind you, these are some of the most difficult trails to ride in the whole U.S.A. And just like last time he rode them, he came back with some battle wounds. Crashing on rock is never a pretty sight. The mother in me is not allowing him to ride them again without proper protection.

I, on the other hand, was doing a little Easter candy shopping...along with the rest of Austin. I thought I had arrived at Walmart early enough to beat the crowds but I guess everyone else had the same idea.

On the way home I noticed one of those flimsy wire signs stuck in the side of the road. Thanks to the million mile an hour winds and swift traffic, all I could read was Helicopter Easter egg drop, the date and the name of the park where they were to be dropped.

Sounded like it would be fun for us all to me - Egg hunt for Summer, aircraft for Lucas, outdoors for me, a walk for the dog, and for Toby...well, just being with us???

I sped home to gather the family in time for this helicopter Easter egg drop. By the time we got back to the park there were crowds of folks waiting for the loot to drop.

Upon arrival, I soon came to realize that a church was hosting the egg drop. Great. I knew what that meant....

As instructed we headed to the line to "register" for the egg drop. The free registration required us to give our name, rank, and serial number.

Luckily, I have been through this sort of registration enough that I knew to give enough false information that the enemy would not end up at my door trying to recruit me in the future.

We were sectioned off by Summer's age group. The helicopter had to make several rounds before he made the drop to her group.

Although not all that exciting, I do have to say that we all were a bit intrigued watching the helicopter drop eggs onto the ground from above.

When the time came to race for loot it was like "flies on shit" as my dad used to say. Summer got lost somewhere in the crowd as the thousands of eggs were swept up in a blink.

When we finally caught back up with her she had only managed to pick up one egg out of thousands...ONE EGG! She also managed to get a bumped knee from a grown woman who shoved her out of the way to grab an egg for her child...this scenario very closely resembled some Mardi Gras parades I have been to.

No big loss on the eggs anyway. The ones we saw were filled with stickers and plastic animals...no candy. O'well, beggars can't be choosers.

After the hunt we decided to go use our tickets for hot dogs, sprite and water we got from our free registration. As we were standing in line we were informed that they were out of hot dogs and sprite. We did manage a couple of bottles of water.

Karma. I guess if I wouldn't have given false information on my free registration card the Lord would have blessed Sum with an abundance of eggs, an unscathed knee, and a hot dog for our hungry stomachs...

Just kidding, we had fun anyway..thanks to the egg dropping helicopter.

Easter eve I had this grand plan that me and the kids would dye Easter eggs. Well....I ended up dying eggs mostly by myself. The kids were watching a movie and seemed disinterested in the activity...except for eating the eggs anyway. :-)

Easter morning Lucas was scheduled to leave out by noon. I decided so that we ALL would be having fun, I would not cook and that we would allow Cafe 290 to feed us our Easter brunch.

I LOVE Cafe 290....we all love Cafe 290. There are not many Southern home cookin' type places in Austin...even in the bedroom communities. Cafe 290 cuisine is southern cooking and charm with a dash of Tex Mex somewhere rolled in it.

Technology...the kids eyes stayed glued to their "toys" while we waited on our Easter brunch.

Then it was goodbye to Lucas until July, and hello to a start to a new week.

Pace Bend

2011-04-24T17:16:00.010-05:00

Since I am the anointed travel planner in my household, I try to have our weekly destination already planned and mapped out before the day before the day actually arrives.

This week for whatever indecisive reason I couldn't figure out where I wanted to go. I think I really just wanted to stay home and do nothing but I know that staying home and doing nothing is impossible when hubby and the kid are home so I sucked it up and thought up a quick random destination.

We ended up going to Pace Bend Park. Pace Bend is said to be a local favorite and we still have not been there yet.

Put bluntly, I didn't like it there. When we first drove in the place just looked barren and drab in comparison to other places on the lake we have been to. There also seemed to be a over abundant supply of teenagers/young adults hanging around and about the swimming areas. From my first impression the area we were in was not very "family friendly".

We decided to hop in the car and check out other areas of the park. Luckily the scenery got a little better around the bend. Unfortunately, we were not warned upon paying our $10 entrance fee that most of the coves around the bend were "closed or the winter". I'm assuming that no one has informed Travis County Parks Dept. that winter has been long gone in our area.

We did manage to find an open cove to explore. It was a nice view but the bluff was so steep, we still couldn't access the water..which is always our goal.

As usual, we made the best of the day as we could. Needless to say, it was a short day out. Maybe one day if I ever run out of other places to visit, I will go back and check out all those other coves that were closed off for the winter. Surely, I must have missed something....

Who's Right?

2011-04-18T22:34:00.017-05:00

We all believe we are right. We are right about our beliefs or about the way we raise our kids or how to pronounce tomato. In essence everybody is right. Whatever works for you and your family is right.

I'm sure everyone has had the experience of someone trying to sway you from your ways, ideas, or thoughts to their ideas, ways, or thoughts. While it is good to keep an open mind and open ear, most of us prefer the comfort zone of sticking to our own story.

We believe that the way we do it is the best way and if we could just get everyone else to see/do it that way then we would all be on the same level. Well, that's just it. We are not all on the same level. We each have different life experiences and goals that require us to think and believe in certain ways...some of us just choose to go about things in more arduous ways.

What is it about human kind that believes he is always right. Hubby claims it to be the ego. Most probably he is right but that's a whole other blog.

I think we also tend to attract and want to be around those people who have close to the same beliefs and thoughts that we do. It takes a rare sort of relationship that can endure totally opposing ideas or goals.

I'm not innocent. I'm sure at one point or another that I have tried to sway someone to my beliefs. I think that because it works for me that it will work for someone else. It's like trying to convince a size 13 person they can fit into a size 10 pair of jeans. They probably can, but it won't be a comfortable fit.

My goal is to just accept the way people live their lives as just that...their life. If they ask for my opinion or help I will give it - otherwise they are on their own and I will just sit back and watch their self destruction...just kidding. :-)

Each day I am trying to accept that there are many ways of thinking and doing things. My way does not necessarily mean the right way it's just my way. That's my story and I'm stickin' to it.

Exploring Bastrop

2011-04-12T20:25:00.026-05:00

Today's field trip was to Bastrop, Texas only a short drive from Austin. This would not be our first trip to Bastrop, but it was our first on the Riverwalk at Fisherman’s Park located on the Colorado River.

But first on the agenda was a bite to eat. We like to try new places to eat when we are on our day trips so we opted for Maxine's on Main. We had seen it advertised on one of our favorite PBS showsThe Daytripper so we thought we would give it a shot.

Sorry to say Maxine, but we weren't near as impressed as ole' Chet. The food was good but nothing impressionable enough to brag on. We were also surprised our un-generous plates added up to a whopping $30. Maybe this was most surprising because the prices on the menu had obviously not been updated and we weren't even warned the menu prices were not accurate before ordering. I guess it doesn't really matter what we think though. Texas Monthly rated it as one of the best small town cafe's in Texas and the place had a steady stream of customers while we were dining.

After we ate we headed to the Riverwalk. The Riverwalk was a hit for us all.

Here are some pics of our day in Bastrop...

Following the Herd

2011-04-10T19:43:00.024-05:00

"Some folks are comforted by following the herd and so when one of their own ventures off, it freaks them out, makes them question their whole herd-following mentality."

Over a decade ago I worked with a high school girl whom I was very fond of. She was white and she was in a relationship with a black guy. I won't use the politically correct terms African American or European American because it highly annoys me when roads, buildings, or race names are changed only to make it more confusing for someone to know what to call it/them. Face it folks, we are red, yellow, black and white with a little drop of each mixed in us all and leave the damn road and building names their original names..end of story.

This was during a time when it was not so popular to be dating a person of a different race. Well, at least in the behind the times area where I lived.

She used to complain almost daily about getting looks and comments from people when she would be out in public with "boy". "Boy" is the name she would call him when she referred to him. Once I asked her what his real name was. She said G-Lover. Whatever....anyway, I would often tell her when you are doing something that is out of the norm you attract attention from the conformers.. Whether it is right or wrong makes no difference, it's just out of the norm.

I just had a realization the other day that homeschooling attracts the same attention from the less knowledgeable.

I'm old and wise enough to know how to put folks in their place when they start analyzing our life choices. Summer has alot to learn and probably a long road ahead of her.

Everything she has done and ever will do is under a social microscope because she is homeschooled. She is scrutinized daily no matter what she is doing, how she is acting, and even her whole persona.

Here are just a few examples off the top of my head:

If she spells a word wrong, doesn't know the answer to a question, or doesn't know how to multiply easily it's because she is homeschooled. She has to always be on her toes lest be critiqued by the judges.

She is asked to be a performing monkey by naysayers on many occasion to "prove" that she is learning something. If she does not measure up it's because she is homeschooled.

I can't even tell you how many times an adult has asked her when she is going to "school". Or why she doesn't want to go to school with all the other kids.
As if we keep her locked in a dungeon during the day.

The questions go on and on. Anytime you stray from the norm you get questions, looks, and unwanted advice.

I guess alongside reading, writing, and arithmetic, Summer is most importantly learning how to deal with being different.

I always use this analogy with her...If you want a cat and you go to look at a litter of cats and all the cats are black but one of them happens to be a cat with a white patch around his eye and orange stripes on his paws which cat are you going to want? The cat that looks like all the other cats or the one that is different??

She will survive...and so will we...

Bone Dry

2011-04-06T18:35:00.015-05:00

We chose this beautiful day to explore one of our favorite hiking destinations, Barton Creek Greenbelt. Most of the hiking trails in our area are miles long so we have the benefit of visiting any particular trail numerous times and still exploring a different section with each visit.

The trail meanders along several miles of Barton Creek. We always try to choose a trail that runs along a water source because (a) hiking near the water breaks up the scenery and gives us all something extra to explore.(b) it's a good way to cool ourselves off (c) it gives the dog a way to cool off and and get a drink.

Mistake. No rain, no creek. This is nothing unusual for Barton Creek. Last time we were at the creek it was a water lover's dream...not so much this time.

We were slightly disappointed when we reached the creek only to find a bone dry creek bed...especially Bo who we brought no water for expecting that he would have creek water to drink and cool off in.

All was not lost though. The trail was nice and shady and for future reference this particular part of the trail has numerous swimming areas when we happen to get some steady, sufficient rainfall.

We probably would have walked more along the creek if there had been water, but because of the conditions we only ended up hiking a couple of miles. I was surprised that Summer remained in a positive non-complaining mode the whole hike considering the unexpected circumstances. I reckon miracles do happen every so often..

Every time we go to Barton Summer is always intriqued by the rock climbing wall. There are usually a few rock climbers on the wall when we go there but Sum was the only one at the time. All she needed was some gear and she would have been set to go..

Bridge over "creek"...

Bo says.."Where is my daddy going without me?"....

Chillin' on a boulder....

All we could do was imagine how cool this swimming hole is when it's at it's water capacity..

Until next time....

Space Week

2011-04-01T19:03:00.025-05:00

This week Austin got a visit from NASA. Austin is chock full of educational opportunities for "schools" and I try to take advantage of as many of them as possible. Some end up being a hit and others are found to be better explored solo.

Honestly, I didn't have high hopes for the NASA Space Week. I don't know why, just a hunch. Luckily my hunch was wrong. We arrived at the Capitol expecting to just check it out and move on. We ended up being there a couple of hours. Summer was enjoying it more than I expected and requested to keep looking around even when I started to hint that it was time to go.

There were a lot of interesting activities that seemed to pique her interest. All in all I give it a thumbs up. We even got free Amy's ice cream...mmmmmm.

While were there they were having some sort of political rally. Sum's latest interest is in spying, FBI, CIA, and private investigation. Not really sure how to expound on her interest as it's not a common kid interest and that I know of there aren't any kid classes for being a "spy". I have even scoured the Internet for FBI and kids and can't seem to come up with anything that would give us some activities for such. So, when she saw the political security she was very intrigued. As much as I wanted to go up and ask them questions about their job for Sum I didn't feel it was appropriate given the circumstances..oh, well..

Another highlight of the day was counting hippo's in Hutto on the ride home. That's another post for another day...

Good Water Loop-Lake Georgetown

2011-03-30T20:42:00.031-05:00

There is only a small window of time in the fall and spring where the weather is comfortable enough to hike. Otherwise the weather is too hot or too cold. In the Summer there is very little shade to help shield you from the Texas sun and in the Winter though the temps are relatively mild, the winds and openness of the land can make the temps feel 20 degrees or less than what they are.

So now is one of the times of year I like to work in one of my favorite pastimes-hiking. I guess it's not so much the hiking I enjoy but the being outdoors in nature. Walking and the outdoors is my personal form of meditation. You will probably never catch me sitting around with my legs crossed, eyes closed, and my index and thumb fingers pinched together chanting ohhhmmmmmm.

So, back a few months ago as I was scouring my Austin Hiking guides I came across the 16 1/2 mile Good water Loop Trail in Georgetown, Texas. It was listed as one of the Austin areas most overlooked trails. I like hole in the wall type places so this one intrigued me.

Our goal was to reach the Crockett Garden and Falls located on the trail loop.

We only managed to hike about 4 miles of the rocky trail. Hiking over rocks and hills is a bit different and more gruelling than a flat path. Aside from some blister issues in the last mile from Summer and me doing more sightseeing than keeping my eye on the path where a huge rock step jumped in front of me and threw me to the ground we had a great day. Of course the two men, Toby and Bo, trudged on without even wincing even though I'm sure Bo's paws were raw from the rocks and Toby..well, I don't know because he's always pretty tough until the ride home where he promptly falls asleep after every hike we go on.

Most the trails we hike are open but the the first couple of miles of this trail are shady...oh, and if you have the pesky Cedar tree allergies that Austinites swear you will have when you move here, this trail would not be the one to hike. Cedar trees line the whole trail. By the way, we are going on our 4th year of being here and have never experienced the allergy...or any allergy for that matter....

About a mile down the trail you get a birds eye view of Lake Georgetown...

For another mile the trail takes you along a bluff on the edge of the lake...

The trail was very rocky indeed...

We finally got to the head of the falls and the old homestead site. Summer checking out the rocks in the stream....

Here are the remains of the old homestead that once stood....

We could hear the falls as we came upon them. We were excited about seeing them but what we saw was not exactly what we expected to walk all that way for. In their defense I had this feeling that they were probably more impressive when there is a little more rainfall....

On the way out of the falls area I came across this tree with a cool diagonal pattern. Summer also found a small cave....

We tied Bo up to a tree for some rest and we sat down in front of the falls and ate our lunch. Peaceful...

Some misc. pics from our day...

Needless to say I got my hiking itch filled for the week.

Happy Birthday Summer!

2011-03-27T20:57:00.015-05:00

Although tomorrow is technically Summer's birthday, we had her party today. Birthday parties are always an iffy kind of thing for us. You never know how many kids will show even if you add in a R.S.V.P on the invitation. I usually just play it by ear. It's not like we have a large circle of friends anyway.

I don't believe people need to have a lot of friends. Friends are like kids, the the less you have the more individual attention you can devote therefore building a stronger personal relationship. That's just my view...it doesn't necessarily make it the right view.

I think every year Summer strives to have the typical birthday party. Ya know, lots of kids, presents, party hats and streamers. She has always loved parties. When she was younger she would make up her own party invitations, plan games, and make a menu. She would then go around to the neighbors and tell them about her "party". Imagine my surprise when neighbors would show up with gifts and expectations of a party.

No matter, her birthday parties have always been on a smaller scale which always makes her sensory challenged mother very happy anyway. I do have to say that I ended up spending 7 hours in a place that I ended up feeling like I needed to visit a bar room before I went home. Gotta love kids.

Here are some highlights of her 10th Birthday Party at Austin's Park and Pizza....

Influences

2011-03-25T18:43:00.014-05:00

I don't have time to watch much T.V...actually T.V. is not my favorite pastime even if I had an extra 12 hours in my day. Just so happens though that my afternoon lull is usually around the time that Dr. Phil and Oprah or on. As I fold laundry or create my grocery list I catch snippets of each show.

I love Oprah. I only watch Dr. Phil out of curiosity. I wonder who in the hell would ever call the Dr. Phil show to air their dirty laundry to a man that only wants to exploit them to promote himself and an audience who only loves the drama of it all (I guess since I watch him I could be considered a drama craved audience member myself)

Even though I'm not a big fan of Dr. Phil, every so often I will hear something that catches my "ear".

One of them is..."Only boring people get bored." I can believe that one. I never get bored. I may get "bored" of doing the same thing over and over again like housework or taking care of family members, but I never bore. I can ALWAYS find something to entertain myself if left to my own devices.

I have also heard him say..."The same sex parent has the biggest influence on the child of the same sex." From experience I believe this to be true.

This quote was brought to my attention today as I watched Summer and one of her friends. I noticed that her friend, although the same age as Sum, acts much more "mature". She flips her hair and has a saunter to her walk. She carries herself in a way that says..."take me I'm yours". Summer is doing good if she brushes her hair and teeth everyday and doesn't seem to give a flip about physically impressing the opposite sex.

Watching Sum's little friend made me think about ole' Dr. Phil and his quote. I thought about all the female children I knew and their mothers. For the most part the female children I know do model their mothers in their behaviors.

For example, Summer is only slightly focused on her looks but maintains a very bossy, bitchy manner. Her little friend has a mother that is focused on her looks and the impression she leaves on the men in her life. Summer has a mother that tends to...well...not really care what men think of her and can boss and bitch at an expert level.

Every time my son comes to visit he points out how Summer acts like me. He doesn't bring it up in a way that makes me feel proud either...lol.

Toby got lucky. If our daughter turns out to be less than desirable the blame won't fall on him.

Changes

2011-03-21T18:55:00.018-05:00

If you can stand another dog post read on. If not, catch me later on one of my more controversial or destination topics.

Read on:

We have now had our adopted shelter dog Bilbo a.k.a Bo for 3 months. In the past 3 months I have learned more about patience, persistence, leadership, restraint, and dog pack behavior than I could ever imagine would ever be on my plate.

I don't say this in a positive way....or at least it didn't seem very positive in the beginning. In the beginning the dog wore me down, cramped my style, made me paranoidly alert, and made me cry in frustration on many occasions. Having him brings me back to the first few months of my daughter's infancy. Not a pretty sight.

When we first got him I mostly spent my time feeling sorry for him because I didn't love him the way I knew I should. After all, I allowed him to be a part of our lives and committed to his care. I should love him...but I didn't.

But something about his eyes told me that he had been sent by the Universe to help me learn a few things about myself...shake me up from my comfort zone a bit. I didn't want to play the game that I was slowly but surely being forced to play. The game of change can be very scary even if you are expecting it and even more scary when it's arrives out of the blue.

No, I can't say that if I had known how difficult Bo would be he would be a part of our family. Now that we are over the hump I can say YES, he is turning out to be the kind of companion that any dog loving family would love to have.

Bo is a mixed American Bulldog. He's a bully breed which makes him a bit on the physically strong and dominant side. If you could have seen him the first few weeks in our household you would know why we had to hire an animal behaviorist to HELP!!!

Yes, many times I wanted him to disappear. I thought many times about taking him back from whence he came. But what would that have taught my very impressionable daughter? So many times I have taken the easy way out. I don't want to be that person anymore. I want to learn to love unconditionally, judgement and expectation free. In the past, that would have been me...now, not so much.

So anyway, a co-worker of Toby's recommended a local dog behaviorist/trainer Training by Tara. She has been the dog GOD to us. In our first initial consult we learned things we never knew about dogs....things most dog owners don't know about dog behavior.

For example, in all the years of owning a dog I thought when my dog followed me around, leaned against me, or pawed at me it was because he loved me. NOT!!

When he jumped up on me when I walked in the door he was happy to see me. NOT!

When he snuggled in the bed or on the sofa with me he was showing love. NOT!

When he sat beside me while I ate he is just wanting to share a meal with me. NOT!

We humans, namely Americans tend to treat and respond to dogs in a human way. Bad mistake for folks who own 65lb adolescent male dominant dogs. Sure, you can get away with babying a smaller or less dominant breed which is probably what I would be happily doing if I had chosen a different breed.

I didn't just take our behaviorist Tara's word for this. I took it upon myself to study dog pack behavior on my own. I guess you learn something new every day. Dogs do have their own language and social status behavior. No, they aren't even close to being human or having human thoughts. I guess that's why Tara is one of the best behaviorist/trainers in Austin. After just a couple of session with her I respect her opinion and adhere to all her "rules".

Thanks to Tara we have gone from an out of control rambuncious, mouthing, jumping, unpredictable, leash pulling dog to a calm, submissive, respectful big bulldog.

It has been an amazing journey. In teaching my dog control and patience I have learned control and patience. He is forcing me to be a strong, stable leader. I find that his presence in our household has forced me to take a step back and internally observe my emotions before I act on them. I can now say that yes, I LOVE MY BULLDOG.

Lost Memories

2011-03-10T19:28:00.011-06:00

Recently my brother over at Buddy Newell's Daily Blog posted an entry about Hobbies. This particular post rang very true to me because lately I have been also feeling a strong urge for the creative aspect of myself. Growing up both my brother and I used to do a good bit of drawing. After all, back in our day entertainment options were limited and basic.

Matter of fact, one of the most memorable times of my childhood is when my mom signed me and my brother up for basic art lessons at the local community center one summer. I really enjoyed the lessons. I remember the instructor telling me I had photogenic eyes and a classical nose...whatever that meant. As much as I enjoyed it, these art lessons would be the first and only lessons I have ever had.....

Nowadays, one of the ways I enjoy expressing my creativity is through my photos. It's been a while since I have been able to use my camera creatively and my brothers post got me pumped. If you would like to check out some of his pics you can view them here. I am super proud of not only his photographic and writing abilities but his accomplishments in general.

Anyway, we woke up to a beautiful morning today and decided to take a trip to nearby McKinney Falls State Park. I was looking forward to making use of my camera and I took many pictures while we were hiking. I was so excited because my usually sour puss camera shy daughter was actually posing and asking me take pics of her up against the falls, against rocks, and offering many other poses.

I couldn't wait to get home and download them. That's the highlight to me after a trip where I have taken many pictures. Memories caught in time. I take memories very seriously.

Sadly, I made a major screw up by thinking my pics were transferred properly so I immediately deleted them from my camera. I do this because I hate it when I forget to delete them off my camera and end up with a ton of "trash" on my camera when I go to download again.

You guessed it....I lost every single picture that I took today. Memories down the drain. I can't even describe the disappointment but I sucked it up and tried to not think about all the wonderful pics I took that will remain a memory only in my mind until the end of time.

Solitude

2011-03-06T21:41:00.013-06:00

Sometimes I get caught up in what's not going the way I want it to or what I'm NOT doing that I want to do. I know this is a big NO NO but somehow I always let myself get caught up in the pitiful me mode.

This is one of the things I strongly dislike about myself. I don't go with the flow well. I have an agenda and I like to keep true to it. I get very agitated and cranky if I'm not able to do the things I want to do when I want to do them.

In all honestly, I probably have more faults than the average person. I have to work really hard on changing my attitude about things that happen around me that I can't change all while keeping my chin up and a smile on my face.

Recently I have found that it helps when I get out and about by myself every so often even if it's just to the grocery store. I am a solitary person by nature and enjoy being by myself...sort of odd for a person that doesn't really like herself...maybe I like myself more than I think...

I used to have a friend that hated to be by herself. She always sought out human companionship even if they weren't the best company. Her motto was better to be with someone bad than nobody at all.

I think that's one of the things that Toby and I have most in common. Even when we first dated and newly in love we would spend time separated and didn't mind it.There were times that we would be together in the same house content with being in separate rooms doing our own thing without feeling the need to be with each other. I think that may be the reason why we get along so well now. Neither one of us are needy. We enjoy each other's company but we aren't insecure without each other. I think that same concept spills over into my kids. As much as I love having them around, I don't feel out of sorts when they aren't around.

Don't get me wrong. I do enjoy the company of friends and family when they are around and I do seek out companionship with them, but I also don't mind being alone and prefer being by myself rather than with people.

Why do some people feel the need to be social? Take Sum for example. She loves being with people anytime or anyplace, whether it be her friends, or me and Toby. Her goal each day is to find social outlets whether it be chatting online or having friends over to play. Even my dog seems to follow suite with the social thing. He follows us from room to room and freaks out if we leave him alone.

So my question is is sociability something that is inborn or are introverts created by some outward experience/s??? Why do some people prefer solitude and others feel the need to be around other people???

Suicide

2011-03-02T21:17:00.025-06:00

Sometimes things that happen are just plain odd. Technically I guess you would call them coincidence, synchronicity, or ironic.

For me, these things happen only every so often....or maybe I just notice them when they are blatantly obvious.

Here is what happened last night. Sum had a 4-H meeting. During the meeting my son called me. I cut the call short and asked him if I could call him back when I got home from the meeting.

By the time I got home with all the late night commotion that comes from coming in late I forgot to call him back.

I made a mental note to call him back the next day after he got settled from his 10 hour long work day.

As my day went on I checked the clock periodically so I could call him back at a time that would be convenient for both of us. Once again my day got away from me and late evening set in.

I went about doing my usual evening computer ritual of checking my e-mail and my blog/blogs. As I was reading one of my favorites JUST A BALD MAN's blog post, Suicide, for whatever reason it reminded me I needed to call my son back. I immediately stopped before I even finished the post to make the return call to my son.

When my son answered his phone we made our usual greetings. Next he informed me that his first cousin, (his father's brothers son) had committed suicide. After the shock of hearing about this little boy that we had spent so much time with growing up sunk in I thought about the blog post about suicide that I had just been reading a few short minutes ago.

Then I thought about this boy's mother who not only had been my sister-in-law for many years but also my best friend. I felt for her, I felt the pain she must be in to hear the news that her only child...her son, had ended his life.

Suicide is a delicate subject. In my lifetime I have known a few people that have committed suicide. Right off hand I can count five...one of them being someone I had a two year relationship with after me and my first husband separated. Emotional issues attract emotional issues I presume...

I have often heard that suicide is a cowardly thing to do. In my opinion it takes more guts to end your life than most people have. And yes, in my troublesome teen years I thought about suicide many times. Looking back, I guess it was the one time in my life that I should be grateful for my religious upbringing. Our religion taught us to believe that if someone committed suicide they were going to hell...period. The fear of going somewhere where there was an ugly red man with a pointed tail and pitchfork chucking folks into a lake of fire was enough to make me think twice about my situation.

I still had raw emotions and low self-worth that had to be dealt with though so instead of suicide I did stupid things like slice big gashes on my stomach and down my legs with scissors or other sharp objects. I hated myself and it was the only self-infliction that I felt I wouldn't get in trouble for...it was also easy to hide. I didn't know it then but now I know that I was a cutter. It was easy to explain away scratches and even easier to hide them.

I don't think I did the cutting very long before I found another self-destructive outlet...drugs and alcohol.

Nowadays life is much better for me but it was a long, hard road to get me where I am today...which isn't all that far but in comparison to where I was I'd say I'm doing pretty good.

I guess it all boils down to one thing in the end. None of us come out of this life unscathed in one way or another. Some of us decide to hang out till the end and others don't. It's called "free will".

“Life is like a movie, if you've sat through more than half of it and its sucked every second so far, it probably isn't gonna get great right at the end and make it all worthwhile. None should blame you for walking out early.”

Mardi Gras

2011-02-28T19:19:00.008-06:00

Mardi Gras - french translation meaning 'Fat Tuesday'.

I'm sitting here wasting time on the computer and grab my plastic cup of water and take a sip. As I set it back down on my desk I notice that it has the Mardi Gras schedule printed on the side of it. As I scan the dates I realize that Mardi Gras is now in procession back home. The plastic cup is one of the many that I have collected from parades over the many years of living in the city of Mardi Gras's origin.

You read right. Mardi Gras actually started in Mobile, Alabama in 1703 when it was a colony of French soldiers. After having survived a particularly nasty bout with yellow fever, they decided to celebrate, but since party favors were few and far between in the New World, the men opted to paint their faces red and just act crazy for a few hours....I'm sure they were probably hitting the bottle pretty hard also. Either way, they must have had fun because it became an annual event.

There are many uninformed individuals that believe Mardi Gras began in New Orleans...possibly because New Orleans's celebration is much larger and more well known.

My confession: In my 40 plus years of living in Mobile I never knew these facts until my history buff hubby enlightened me. Shame on me...I guess I didn't pay much attention in my Alabama History class.

Or maybe it was because I never really liked Mardi Gras in the first place. I can remember my parents taking me and my brother a couple of times as kids. All I remember is being trampled by over enthusiastic folks rushing to grab moon pies, beads and other trinkets. I could never see the parades because I was too short and there were too many people. As a child it was all too overwhelming to be fun.

I think mom and dad finally decided that it was not worth the effort to take us into the mass of over-indulgent crowds.

Then next time I ventured to Mardi Gras was when I was a teen. I had a friend who lived downtown close to the parade route so we headed there to find our spot behind the barricade and wait. I don't remember much about that night other than I had a bit too much 'liquid courage' and I tripped over one of the fallen barricades. Some paraders laughed at me and my friend took it upon herself to defend me and 'kick some ass' as we redneck girls liked to call it. Needless to say, we ended up escorted from the parade route.

The next time I remember going to the parades was with my ex and my son. Somehow it always ended up no fun then either. I was always the designated driver back then for a reason. Babysitting a partying hubby is never fun during Mardi Gras.

Heck maybe I'm just jealous that none of the floaters never asked me to show them my boobs for beads....

The very last experience I had with Mardi Gras was a couple of years before I moved to ATX. I have to admit those times were the best. I can remember a couple of pleasant experiences at Mardi Gras. Nonetheless, it's not one of the things I miss the most about Mobile...

That said, since moving to Texas, for whatever reason, every Mardi Gras season I have had the urge to book a hotel in downtown Mobile so we can celebrate one of the few things Mobile, Alabama has to offer.

Maybe one of these years I will actually get to implement that plan....

Time Sheets

2011-02-25T21:45:00.026-06:00

Not so long ago, but what seems to me now like a million years ago, I worked for a CPA. Yes folks, at one point in my life I had real job with a real paycheck. I worked out of the home for 12 years before I took on the task of a stay-at-home-homeschooling mom.

My paying job allowed me to take breaks, sneak in some personal time, have quite lunches with adults while enjoying uninterrupted conversations, to be respected by society because I bring home a paycheck, and OH! the best one of all is there was never anyone at home during the day so the house stayed clean..I had to only deal with the upkeep. Meals were also easy....local restaurants were my best friends.

During my duration as a bookkeeper/secretary for the CPA firm I had to fill out a time sheet at the end of each day. This sheet was a way to track the time that I spent on each client or administrative work that I did. Sometimes my days were so easy I had to think up creative ways to make it appear that I had actually been working. Other days I was so busy I had only one entry for the whole day.

I have been on both ends of the spectrum. I was a working mom for 12 years and have been a stay-at-home mom for the past 10 years. The beauty of this is that I can give a biased opinion on the pros and cons of both because I have experienced both equally.

In all honesty, they both have their perks. The grass is usually not always greener on the other side but it is easier in some ways. It's all according to what you are willing to put up with and what you consider "work".

From my personal experience, I have to say the hardest job ever is to be a stay at home mom...ESPECIALLY a stay-at-home that has chosen the 24/7 job of homeschooling her child/children. Before you say or think anything...yeah, I know I chose it and I own it, I'm just including this info for effect.

For example, this would be my time sheet for the day...

7:00 a.m. got out of bed, made coffee, straightened house while coffee made...e.g..folded blankets up, opened all blinds, put dishes into dishwasher, watered house plants, etc.

7:15 a.m. take my coffee up to my computer. The time frame between 7:00a.m to 9:00a.m is "my time". It is the only time of the whole day that I get complete peace and quite because the rest of my family is still fast asleep. This is my sacred time and I use it as wisely as possible.

9:00 Prepare breakfast, clean kitchen, prepare Toby's lunch for the day or any preps for meals for the day..usually lunch. Sweep kitchen floor. Wipe down the inside of the fridge. Feed and water dog.

10:00 Strip sheets from the beds and wash. Wash dogs bed and towels. Fold clothes in the dryer. Wash more clothes. fold second load of clothes. Dust living room and bedroom. Mop kitchen floor. Wipe dog slobber tracks off sofa. Vacuum dog hair from sofa. Cut up cantaloupe for Sum a snack.

11:00 Help Toby bathe dog. Sprinkle baking soda on floor and vacuum. Play Skip Bo with Sum and her friend. Prepare snack for Sum and her friend. Wash more clothes. Straighten and sweep out garage. Pick springing weeds out of yard. Pick up dog poop. Control dog from jumping on kids. Kill ant beds.

1:00 Check and drop off mail at the mailbox. Make lunch. Clean kitchen...AGAIN. Fold clothes. Put sheets on the bed. Walk the dog. Play with the kid and the dog together. Collect all the trash out of each room and put new trash bags in. Clean mouse cage. Feed mouse and water mouse.

3:00 Try to figure what is wrong with electronic equipment for Summer. Play with dumb dog again. Feed dog. Train dog. Put treats in dog toy for dog. Answer Summers questions and look at a book with her and answer more questions about the book. Help Sum navigate a website she was looking at and answer more questions. Wipe down upstairs bathroom and clean toilet. Dust upstairs study.

4:30 By this time I'm beginning to weaken mentally because I have been going non-stop for several hours straight. This is point where I start eyeing the bottle of vodka sitting on top of the refrigerator but maintain control and keep my eye on the tasks at hand. I sweep the floor again because obviously I am the only one that wipes my feet before I walk in the door. I kill a row of ants that have made their way to a crumb on the floor.

5:00 I finally get to squeeze my shower in for the day. I was so busy I just now realized that I need a bath. Before I hop in the shower I scour the downstairs toilet and floor surrounding it and wipe it and the sink down. My relaxing shower is short lived because while I'm in there the dog gets into the bathroom garbage can and church folk are ringing the doorbell.

6:00 Finally,the bottle of booze I was eyeing earlier gets a little attention.

7:00 I'm still not off duty, but I certainly feel much better about my job after a good stiff drink. The rest of the night will be hit and miss.

All in a good days work. At least I'm the boss at my job. ☺

Destinations

2011-02-23T20:43:00.020-06:00

I came to the conclusion the other day that I am addicted to destinations. I love to scour travel brochures and I have a nice collection of travel books and magazines.

From the moment I awaken in the morning my first thoughts are about where I will be going for the day. I like to have a destination for the day whether it be as simple as a trip to the grocery store or a day trip to a nearby town.

Recently I found this website called Parkgrades.com. As I navigated the site I became aware of just how many parks the Austin area has. There is a park on almost every corner...some better than others.

I decided that my goal for the year would be to visit every single park in Travis County. After all, parks are fun for everybody...especially the parks around here. Even in the most undesirable parts of Austin the parks are equipped with adequate playground equipment and abundant hiking trails.

This week I decided to start off with the parks closest to my home that I have not visited yet and move outward.

Today it was Austin's Colony Park just a few miles down the road. This park happens to be nestled on the banks of the Colorado. I love a park on the water and plentiful hiking trails so I was excited about checking it out.

Although I thought this park had a real cool factor for being on the river and it had a decent playground and plenty of open space, I couldn't imagine it a park families seek out for weekly playdates. Then again, first impressions are sometimes decieving. Even so, while we were there I saw a couple of prophylactics laying on the ground around the playground and imagined the playground was probably used more for teenagers in heat than a child's play area.

I also noticed the area over the bluff along the river had a few makeshift campsites that were probably used as a breeding ground for some party folks to drink beer and roll in the hay with their special someones.

Luckily we were the only ones there today so it was quite and pleasant...another benefit of having your 'weekend' in the middle of the week.

Here are some pics of our day at the park...

After we left the park I had to stop by my friend Robin's to grab an item I was borrowing. When we got there her animal vet was there about to sew one of the baby goats eyelid outward. Without going into to details about the procedure I'm including a link explaining Entropion for anyone interested.

Toby was the lucky guy who got to hold the kid while the doc sewed his eyelid. I was excited about Summer getting a hands on experience with an actual medical procedure. It became apparent that she wasn't as interested in witnessing the procedure as we were wanting her to. I think she was a bit grossed out because of the needle being so close to the goats eye. O'well, we can scratch medical proffession being her forte.

Never a dull day.

Farm Fun

2011-02-19T08:32:00.012-06:00

I'm not going to sugar coat it. Homeschooling can sometimes be relentless and tiring but it's days like today that make it worth every moment. Like most days, today was no typical "school" day for us.

My friend Robin has what I would call a small farm. She has a beautiful welcoming home, a garden, a horse, some chickens, a dog, a couple of cats, and a small herd of goats.

Luckily Robin loves kids..and I think she might even like me and Toby a little bit...lol. Robin is also a giver. She gives of herself, her time, her money,...whatever she has to offer she puts it out there willingly and enthusiastically. She's one of those people that make the world go 'round.

Summer loves Robin as much as I do so when she invited us over to see her newborn baby goats and to plant some veggies there was no hesitation on either one of our parts.

Me and Sum both got to feed baby goats..they are ADORABLE.....

We got to scrounge around in the dirt and plant veggies which was my personal favorite part of the day..

We also got to see a horse being shoed...I guess that's the correct term, not really sure. Another great advantage to homeschooling is that I get to learn a lot of stuff I never knew or may have forgotten. The process of changing out a shoe on a horse was something I had never witnessed before so I was pretty intrigued by the process....

And somewhere in between it all there was playtime....

A thumb's up day indeed.

Colorado River Wildlife Sanctuary

2011-02-16T21:31:00.010-06:00

Looks like all the chaos of the past couple of months is slowly coming to a lull. We have checked off many things on the "honey-do list" and can now see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Today we had to make a trip to Callahan's General Store in search of a few supplies. Ever since my friend Robin told us about Callahan's we have kept it on our favorites list.

We also had to have the oil changed in the 4-Runner. I always like to kill a couple birds with one stone when we are out so since we would be in the vicinity of the Colorado Wildlife Sanctuary I decided we would drag the mongrel along. I figured if we were going to be enjoying a little bit of the outdoors the dog should have the same pleasure.

We were also a little curious to see how he would react around water. Our goal for the summer is to be able to take him on camping and river trips.

Since the Colorado River Wildlife Sanctuary was nearby we decided to take a short hike along the river. This would be the first time we have ever walked this particular trail. It was obvious that this trail is one of the less populated and maintained hiking trails but we didn't mind at all. It gave us a chance to let Bo run around off leash without distracting things like other dogs and people...and we don't like crowds.

Although the water was too cold for us to wade around in for long, it was obvious that Bo has no fear of water. I think he will be a perfect playmate for Summer in the river.

Old Iron Bridge..

Valentine's Day

2011-02-15T09:14:00.005-06:00

My Valentine's Day started off with a bitchfest about the dog and just plain life in general. I have to make some changes in ranking around here and follow through with them. If I could catch a break it may be easier to enforce. I don't work well under pressure...never have, never will. Hence, the reason I keep my family small.

In truth, Valentines Day is no special day around here anyway. Matter of fact, Toby and I do not, and have never, celebrated Valentine's Day.

When we first met it was in January 2000. When our first Valentine's Day rolled around we had barely known each other a month. He bluntly informed me that he did not celebrate Valentines Day and for me not to expect a gift from him.

Most women would have been quite offended by his statement and may have even ended the relationship. As for me, I was quite relieved and also saw it as a sign that in the future our money would not be wasted on frivilous things or ideas. I'm not a good gift giver and him not celebrating Valentine's Day was a plus for me. It mean't that I wasn't going to have to go out and be succered into the love holiday either.

So ever since that day 11 years ago there are never any flowers, candlelight dinners, or candy exchanged on Valentine's Day.

Just so ya know though, he has been known in the past to surprise me with some flowers, candy, a new camera or other special gift on any given day just because he loves me. His motto is you should show your loved ones you love them everyday, not just one day out of the year.

Smart guy I would say.

Alpha Dog

2011-02-12T08:11:00.010-06:00

I know most of my post lately have been about one dog or another, but lately that seems what my life has been consumed with. I have come to realize that responsible dog ownership comes with a price...my time, patience and effort.

In the past, before I had my little Brandi the dogs I had owned had mostly been outside pets. Growing up, my mother was the animal lover but my dad never allowed animals in the house so the ones we had were also outside pets. My first husband also believed a dog is an animal and should be outside...although I do remember a short while of having a dog live inside with us. He was absolutely the worst untrained wild dog I have ever known but I loved him nonetheless. I was a newlywed with a husband that worked out of town most of the time so the dog was an emotional replacement I suppose...

Anyway, my argument was always the same as my dads. They make messes, they have accidents, and they are dirty but most of all they are animals so they belong outside.

It wasn't until I had Brandi that I decided that I would once again try having an inside dog. She was little and cute and how much mess could she make...very little did she ever. Mostly an accident here and there or some stray vomit in the corner. How much pee and vomit can a 5 lb dog have?? Not much.

After we got Bo and decided that he also would be an inside dog I was, and still am, very skeptical. Although I love his sweet personality, he sort of cramps my style right now. He tries to take over furniture and our space by being right up on us...he weighs 65 lbs so he's not just taking up a square foot area.

When I'm preparing food I have to constantly watch and make sure that he doesn't jump on the counter and snatch the fixings...he's always in the kitchen when I cook monitoring the situation in hopes of a surprise snack. Also, because it's just the three of us, we eat in the living area. He moves right in on our personal space in hopes of a morsel.

His feet are the worst. They drive me crazy. When he goes outside..which is very often because he drinks alot of water and food and needs to eliminate often, he runs around the yard and pick ups every piece of wet, sticky mud that is available. Before he comes back inside I have to wash his feet. This has to be done a few times a day...very time consuming.

He also has severe separation anxiety so I have to constantly worry that he has broken out of his cage or chewed out of our wood privacy fence while I'm gone. I take him the places that I can take him but he can't always go everywhere with me. My new car now smells like a dog and there is white dog hair embedded in my seats and smudge prints all over the window. I have to constantly spray and wipe down my car. By the way, just in case you haven't caught on I like things clean, neat and tidy. Hence, the reason I will always be a small dog person.

I find that I have to vacuum and sweep constantly now. Quite honestly, he's working me to death. When Toby is home he takes over the responsibility of caring for him but in reality I am the one that is here with him the most so the brunt of the responsibility falls on me.

I knew this, I bought into it, why am I bitching?? I don't know. In the past I have been known not to make the best decisions to make other people's lives happier...usually at the disposal of my own sanity and happiness.

On the plus side, Bo is very smart and learns commands quickly so I'm hoping with a little training he can be molded into something more manageable. He also is a very large incentive for me to exercise. Every day I walk a couple of miles with him right beside me. There is something about having the dog beside me that makes my walks worthwhile..very serene and almost spiritual.

When we first got Bo we knew we wanted a well trained family dog. With Bo's size and breed we know that he won't be an asset to our family without training. He is very sweet and loving now and we want him to stay that way. Without training I fear that we may lose our alpha dog role and he may take over.

A few weeks back we took to watching Cesar Millan The Dog Wisperer and the more I watched it the more realization I had that Brandi was definitely the alpha dog in our home. Luckily, because of her size she was no match for us even so.

So, in my search for a dog trainer I have been doing extensive reading on dog behavior. It's already clear that Bo does not completely see us as alpha dog...yet.

I feel like I have a long, hard road ahead but I am determined to win this one. I don't take the responsibility I took on lightly. I have an advantage over most animal lovers in that I don't view my dog as a human.

Unlike with my child I can emotionally detach myself from an animal and use the logic part of my brain. I don't use my animal to fill an emotional void that was never fulfilled. I believe this will help me in making my dog what he is suppose to be...my follower. I am on a mission for the knowledge that it takes to do so.

Wish me luck!!

Out and About

2011-02-05T16:31:00.007-06:00

Winters in the south are typically mild, but this year we have seemed to have more cold days in a row than in prior years. We've also had alot happen this year that has prevented us from doing "family fun stuff".

So true to the south's nature, it snowed yesterday but today it was warm enough to walk around in short sleeves. I decided to take advantage of the warm temps and sunshine and take Bo and Summer to the local park for some exercise and change of scenery.

Summer and I were "wowed" by the frozen water playscape at the pool....

I talked Summer into holding onto Bo's leash while she rode her scooter. I figured it would be fun for her and Bo....well, it was until Bo abruptly stopped to take a sniff at the pile of dog poop in the middle of the trail...

Snow in Austin Texas????

2011-02-04T17:52:00.012-06:00

When you live in the south snow is rare but not unheard of. When we lived on the Alabama Gulf Coast we would get a rare snow treat...only about 5 times in the 40 plus years I lived there. In actuality, it was never really "snow" as northern counterparts would think of snow, but to us it was white and fluffy and stuck long enough to appear to be snow.

Since we have lived in Austin we have had the experience of snow for two years in a row. I'll be honest, last year's snowfall was exciting. It had been over 15 years since I had the experience of snow so I was a little pumped about it when I was able to watch those fluffy flakes flowing so elegantly down from the sky.

Last night's snowfall was not as glamorous. Snow fell during the night so I missed the magic of seeing it fall...which is my favorite part of snow. We also didn't get as much as we did last year so the coverage was not as impressive. Also, I guess the big thrill of snow was over for me after last year. Today it was nothing more than a cold, wet mess.

Even so, I did find it impressive enough to take some snowy day pics...

Bo got hit by his first snowball!!!

Bo gets daily walks and he's waiting for his snow day walk...and yes, I did take him for an extra long walk today. He's such a sissy...he was scared of a snowman someone had made at the end of their driveway and I had to drag him by it..

Welcome Bilbo

2011-02-01T09:03:00.008-06:00

After Brandi's death we immediately wanted to channel our love to another animal. Since the very first time I moved out on my own in my early twenties I have owned a dog.Small dogs, medium dogs, big dogs. Any kind of dog..mutts, pits, rottweilers, chihuahuas, etc.

Toby has the same affection for dogs. Since him and I have been together we have owned at least 8 or more dogs...not at a time of course. It was only natural that we wanted to "replace" Brandi. What better way to move on then to be able to give the love you had for one dog on to another that needs it.

So off to the shelter we headed. The shelter has to be one of the saddest places I know. The energy of doom, gloom and sadness there makes my heart ache.

There is no way I could ever adopt every dog in there but I can at least save one animals life and that's what I try to focus on.

My initial goal was to adopt another small dog. I prefer small dogs. Small dogs mean smaller messes and less trouble in my eyes. Although we have owned larger dogs, it's been a while since we have had one. Toby and Summer tend to prefer the larger more playful dogs and as we were walking by the cages checking out the many breeds I noticed they tended to be eyeing the bigger dogs.

I cringed but then I thought how selfish of me. I always get to choose what kind of dog we get. That said, I am the one that has the majority of the responsibility to care for it.....

Toby spotted one that he took a liking to. A year old black and white American Bulldog Mix. He had sad looking eyes but yet seemed friendly, not to hyper and yet playful. He was also listed as one of the volunteer favorites which was a plus in my eyes.

I myself spotted a little tri-colored Chihuahua mix that was adorable. I decided that we all could have what we wanted and adopt both of them. I wanted everyone to walk away happy and in the past have owned up to 3 dogs at a time so I am no stranger to multiple dog ownership.

We were required to have a meet and greet where we got both the dogs together to see how they interact. Well, as you would guess, the larger dog scared the littler one just because he was so much bigger. The shelter recommended that we not adopt them together. Sucked for me but I figured it was for the best anyway. After all, I wanted to get "Bo" home and get to know his personality before I added another smaller dog into our home.

We have now had "Bilbo"...I call him "Bo" for short, for two weeks and he is a wonderful dog...not perfect but better than I expected He learns fast and has adapted well into our home. Our largest dilemma has been his separation anxiety. He breaks out of his kennel when we leave him and has literally busted through our privacy fence....sigh..

We will begin obedience training soon to tweak out the few issues we have with our new family member.

Granted, I don't have that love connection with him yet but he grows on me a little every day and I hope that one day I will love him just as much as I did my little Brandi.

Meet Bo!

Rest In Peace...Continued

2011-01-30T15:16:00.005-06:00

We arrived at the vet and Toby immediately ran Brandi into the office. On the way to the clinic she had began to convulse. I didn't even think about it when we jumped into the car. Toby put Brandi in the backseat and we jumped into our usual spots in the car....Toby and I up front and Summer in the back.

With Summer being in the back with Brandi she had to witness her convulse. I'm not sure what kind of impact sitting in the backseat while your pet is convulsing and dying will have on her. Understandably, she was clearly upset. Unfortunately none of us get out of this life unscathed by bad experiences. Life goes on.

I have to say that hour spent in the vet's office was the worst for all of us. Toby and I had to make a decision. Brandi had gone septic. Her body had been slowly poisoned by the undelivered babies still left in her little body. After thousands of dollars there was still only a 50/50 chance of her survival. The big question was.."Was our pet's life worth it?" After all, Toby is an artist and I'm a housewife, not really that financially well off at that moment in time.

I don't know what was worse. Having to make the decision to euthanize my beloved pet or having Summer fall apart on me and tell me how much she hated me in the vets office after we told the vet our verdict. Summer with her 10 year old mind came armed with only her emotions and no logic.

These are the times that we really miss having family around. I would have really loved to spare my daughter the horrid experience and left her with a family member while Toby and I did the "dirty deed"...but then on the flip side not being shielded and protected from adult experiences at a young age may benefit her in her adult life...

We opted to bring her body home with us and bury her in a special spot in the yard. Riding home with her wrapped up dead body next to me was like a nightmare I kept hoping I would wake up from. I missed her already so much. We were all quite on the way home from mental exhaustion and shock. All that could be heard from us all were our sniffles and muffled cries. Such a sad, sad, night.

Toby and I woke up early the next morning and buried her. We both held each other and cried and remembered all those things that we loved the most about her.

It's been two weeks since her death and I still can't think about her without shedding a tear...probably never will.

This picture was taken a few weeks before her death...

Rest In Peace

2011-01-28T09:01:00.007-06:00

The year 2011 has not gotten off to the best start thus far. But on a more positive note it has not been disastrous and could always be worse, just annoying and heartbreaking. Just the way life rolls sometimes.

Aside from my oven, computer issues, and other minor annoyances the year has brought thus far, we had to euthanize my beloved almost 5 year old chihuahua, Brandi.

In the past year Brandi had taken a liking to the little male terrier a couple of houses down. Anytime they happened to be both outside at the same time they always sought each other out for company.

We had never had Brandi spayed because there had never been any real need in the past. This is the first time she has ever encountered any situations with neighborhood dogs. Well, if there is a will there is a way and my little Brandi ended up with a belly bulge and the promise of bouncing baby pups.

Quite honestly, we were excited. We had often talked about adding another dog to our home and liked the idea the new addition or two would be Brandi's blood.

Well, things didn't quite turn out the way we expected as things sometimes don't. Matter of fact, things suddenly took a turn for the worst. Brandi went into labor on schedule and gave birth to one pup. For whatever dog reason there may be, she ended up gnawing off the pups back legs and he died..or for all I know it was already dead when she gave birth. I pretty much was leaving her alone and letting nature take it's course.

I assumed from the size of her belly she had more than one pup in there. We waited and waited and waited, but by the next day no more pups had been born.

The next day was a Sunday. Brandi seemed okay but she wouldn't eat or drink and still looked poochy in the stomach. I wrapped her up and held in her in my arms most of that day. I decided I would take her to our local vet first thing when they opened Monday morning.

By late Sunday afternoon I decided to take her outside and let her do her business and enjoy some outdoor air...thinking it may brighten her spirits. We were only outside about 10 minutes but by the time I brought her back inside she had taken a turn for the worst. She started vomiting repeatedly. I was really getting worried by this time and instinctively knew that something was very wrong.

She was vomiting so much that she began dry heaving. I put some old blankets in the laundry basket and put her limp body in it so that I could have her contained but near me. Summer and I were loving on her and petting her when she lost control of her bowels while she was laying there.

At this point I knew her body was beginning to shut down and she would never make it until the vet opened the next morning. I knew in my heart she was going to die if I didn't get her help. I was scared, worried, and emotionally drained from the whole weekend ordeal. Even though I was trying to keep my emotions in check, Summer sensed my concern and began to get emotional asking me if she were going to die.

Toby was at work so I called him and informed him that I thought Brandi needed immediate vet attention. We got a recommendation from his boss for an all night vet clinic in Round Rock...a 30 minute drive from our house.

I can't see well to drive at night and never do unless I am forced. In the emotional condition I was in and trying to find a vet clinic in the dark in an unfamiliar area would have not been safe for any of us.

Luckily Toby was not busy and an hour away from the end of his shift so he was able to leave early, come home and grab us all for our rush to the vet. When we arrived at the clinic it was 8:30p.m Sunday night.

To be continued.....

Pedernales Falls State Park

2011-01-27T19:46:00.009-06:00

This day was a disaster...for Summer anyway. We have been to Pedernales State Park before and loved it. We took Lucas there because we knew he would love it as much as we did.

Simplified story...when we were there previously we had not been able to see the whole park so we decided to hike a different area of the park that I assumed would still lead us to the sandy river where we had hung out before. I knew the kids would prefer to be on the river and I wanted Lucas to see how cool it was too.

Well, Summer doesn't mind hiking at all if there is something to look at and explore along the way. Unfortunately the path we took was nothing but 5 miles of scenery and gravel path. Nothing that would interest a 9 year old.

We never did make it to the portion of the park I wanted to show Lucas but nevertheless I think at least he enjoyed the outdoor adventure. Can't say the same for my littlest one.

Here are some pics of our day....