a couple of things... take 2

While nothing worthy of it's own post has happened, a few small things could be lumped together to give you this...

1 - My Mama took me up to Boerne this past weekend to spend my birthday money! I stepped out of town, away from the chain stores (I'm looking at YOU, Old Navy), and just far enough out of my comfort zone to make it completely worthwhile. No more boring t-shirts here! If you make it to Boerne, stop by Ella Blue :-)



2 - I don't think I've introduced you to Frank. He's my middle child - I mean pet. He's my renegade, my rouge, and my snuggle bunny. Frank joined our family when my first cat died, and Bing was left lonely. He's a shelter kitty. Don picked him out. In the way of all great cats, he's an unpredictable goofball. Last night, I went into the bedroom to change into pajama pants. I opened my CLOSED sliding closet doors to drop my jeans into my hamper, and found this:



He's hysterical :-) I'm just glad that he's moved inside for the winter and rejoined the family. He moved into the yard last spring while I was pregnant, and acted like we were just food dispensers. My assumption is that he was displaced for a baby at some point in his life before us, and this time he wanted to pre-empt our impending rejection of him by leaving first. It hurt my feelings, but he would not be dissuaded. Well, now that it's cold, he has agreed that our love (and central heat) is better than sleeping in the bushes and battling creepy ginger cats all night.

3 -Lily Ruth is obsessed with the dog's dishes. I know that she is not unique in this, but that knowledge does not make it any less annoying and hilarious in turns...



4 - Lily Ruth ALMOST has enough hair for clips! It currently takes me approximately 90 years to get a clip into her bangs, and it stays in place for less than 5 minutes, but DANG is it cute while it's there!



5 - This will not make any friends for me among those forced to drive on the freeway today, but I thought our tiny sleet was BEAUTIFUL. Miniscule, perfectly round, individual drops of ice. Since this so very rarely happens here, I was able to be full of joy and wonder instead of angst and stress. It was fun. Lily Ruth and I watched it go from sprinkling rain to larger drops mixed with tiny 'splats' of slush to giant drops of slush to teeny-tiny ice balls



to more rain to dry, fluffy fat, huge flakes - before you start to worry, I took that picture at a stop light, NOT while I was in motion! Now it's cold and gray, but precipitation-free. Such a strange weather pattern. Oh well, it's South Texas - the one thing I can count on is that tomorrow will almost certainly be completely different... and I ain't just talkin' about the weather :-)

Sunday Silliness

Darling Daughter and I had a LOT of 'quality time' this week - Daddy was out of town from Thursday afternoon until late last night. Here's why that's such a big deal - Lily Ruth currently will only nap and sleep ON one of us. This is a situation we are working on remedying, but since she is (as her daddy put it) 'half me and half you', there is quite a bit of stubborn determination in that tiny body. She is also experiencing a slight case of (very age-appropriate) separation anxiety (so she's clingy even when not sleepy) AND she's teething. This has translated into a 24-hour-a-day demand for 'ONLY Mama Or Daddy Will Do Time'. Since Daddy was gone, the only option was 'Mama Time'. Mama is now dead tired, sore (from excessive baby holding), and brain fried.

Daddy is no dummy, so he suggested that Mama leave the house for a few hours today. Done and done. I called up Kyla to make sure that she was not dead from the stomach flu. She was not, and she was feeling better, so I headed over to her house. We decided a field trip was in order, and motored over to the Legacy Shopping Center (I'm not sure all of those capital letters are needed, but I feel certain that the Legacy people think that they are...). Coffee was procured, and Gabby B's was raided. I came up empty (but those damn shoes haunt me like a siren's song). Kyla found a top and a dress. Neither was 'needed', both were obtained :-)

... I just realized that a lot of my posts have been shopping-oriented lately. Please understand that this is not the norm. I am shopping and fashion impaired, but since I am also currently clothing impaired, shopping has been a necessity... a necessity that I am surprised to realize that I have (temporarily) enjoyed! I am looking forward to feeling less dowdy, less frumpy, less blah. The shopping updates should cease very soon - I'm out of birthday money, and Lily Ruth's college fund wasn't that big :-O

BACK TO THE STORY! We decided that pedicures were necessary, and wandered into Ann's Nails. We requested full pedicures and just polish for fingers. In the way that this usually happens, I was finished WAY before Ky, and was banished to the drying station for my sins. An eternity (several stories, a harrowing phone call/story from Kittyn - oh, and then Ky called me Minnie Driver!?) later, Kyla was done and was sent over to join me.

Now, for those not 'in the know', when you finish a pedicure, they put your flip flops back on for you, and pull your pant legs down from knee level (where they resided during your treatment) to their intended position. It just so happened that Kyla was wearing a pair of 'skinny' khakis. Also, these particular pants have a cute, large cuff and are worn rolled slightly above the ankle - adorable. This translated into hilarity when her nail technician attempted to pull them back down over her calf. Apparently, they were stuck. A tussle ensued. Kyla protests 'just leave them - I'll be fine'. But the technician is adamant. Reinforcements are called in. Kyla is asked to stand - no, sit - no, stand - no, sit. Two ladies are laboring to return these pants to the ankle. It went a little bit like this:



then it went a bit like this:



and then it went on FOREVER! Kyla and I were (once again) laughing, snorting and sputtering (I wish I could have gotten a closer picture of her face. Ky's always pretty, but when she laughs, she's GORGEOUS, and we were laughing a LOT) in the middle of a public place. She kept insisting that she was capable of fixing her own pant legs, but she did have wet fingernails, and these ladies now considered it their sworn duty to see this through. Seriously, ya'll It took all day, but the pant legs were subdued. In the end, their stylish cuff was unrolled, and their fabric was a bit more wrinkled than usual, but there they were - NOT at Kyla's knee. Maybe the nail techs will tell the story of 'the crazy white girls with their stupid trendy pants who laughed like hyenas' over dinner tonight. Maybe their version will crack them up as much as our version did us! Also, this story is funnier with the physical re-enactment, so get one of us to tell it to you in person ;-)

Good times. Oh, and then, when I got home, this was waiting for me:



tooooooooooooooo cute, Ya'll! Hope your weekend had some silliness!

Shoes, Glorious SHOES!

Well, I don't know what to tell you, except that I am fashion challenged. Wait, let me amend that - I am challenged in that I cannot make myself pay a lot for clothing (thanks, Mama :-P), so my choices end up being SEVERELY limited. My current wardrobe consists of 3 pairs of jeans, some long sleeved t-shirts from Old Navy, and some tank tops... from Old Navy... I even went through my closet and culled out the dead wood to see if there were any hidden or forgotten gems. Sadly, now I have a half-empty closet and a HUGE stack of out-of-style/does-not-fit clothing to donate. As though being needy necessitates walking around in things I've been hoarding since high school...

But I digress. My plan was to drag an adorable friend out shopping with me in hopes that she would push me to new fashion heights and I would then soar like an eagle into a world of hip tops, trendy pants and sassy shoes. A place where the air is rarified and the champagne is free... oh man, was I dreaming again? I must have been.

Here's what really happened. I wrangle Kyla into devoting a day off to helping me spend Lily Ruth's college fund (I joke - she has no college fund). After she agrees (and we eat our weight in Mexican food for brunch) she lets it slip that since she works in clothing retail, she loathes shopping. Dammit. Now I'm shopping - which I hate - and I'm forcing somebody I really like into doing something that they hate, too. Crap. Maybe the day can still be salvaged.

After a quick coffee run, we agree to hit the LUSH counter at Macy's. Honestly, who could disagree about that? Then we spy the shoe sale... Holy Moley. I had forgotten how much I love shoes. I stood in the midst of jumbled sales racks (right shoes only), and LONGED for a 'real' job so that I would have a reason to buy heels. Then I shook it off and looked for a pair that I could chase an infant in and that were better the slip ons I was currently wearing (functional, but reminescent of slippers) or flip flops - a girl needs variety, and I currently have none. I found these:



and snapped 'em up. Last pair in the house. I will be the most colorful Mama, but alas, not the most stylish...

Kyla wandered the 'fashion forward' areas, and picked up things best described thusly - 'over-the-knee black boots with gladiator cut outs and platform soles' and 'black suede booties with lethal spike heels'. She settled on 'nude platform peep-toe with a buckle over the instep'. I searched desperately for an image of them to post here, but I can't remember who made them, and I got side tracked... now I want THESE:



but I digress...

As the beautiful Kyla tries on said shoes, she does the requisite '5 steps forward, 5 steps back' dance that we all do in order to asses the feasibility of a new shoe. 'Can it work for me?' we ask... 'will I be able to stand for more than 30 seconds at a time?'... as though 10 steps on highly padded carpet will answer these queries! Well, those answers may not be forthcoming, but something else made itself immediately clear - heel slippage. You may or may not have already guessed where this is headed. That's right, Gentle Reader, the damn things 'farted' with every step. I almost wet myself with mirth. Tears sprang into our eyes as we played out immaginary scenes of Kyla 'farting' her way through a work day...

pft pft pft pft pft - 'Yes, I'm the manager on duty. How can I assist you?'

pft pft - 'can it, you guys! Kyla's coming!'

I had a mental picture of her gliding across the blonde wood shop floors. Poised, put-together, pooting with every step...

Can I tell you - we sat in the chairs of the try-on area completely red faced, teary eyed and unable to contain ourselves. It was bliss.

I said that we should consult a professional. 'Professional WHAT?' asks Kyla. 'Professional Farter?' More giggles. More tears. 'Well' I opined 'all men are professional farters, so the salesman should be able to cover any and all bases on this one'. We make our way to the counter, and delicately mention to the gentleman behind the register that we noticed a bit of heel slippage with these particular shoes. Did he think that an insole would solve the issue? 'Yeah, I sort-of noticed you guys while you tried them on' - I almost DIED - 'and I think that would fix it'. Well, OF COURSE he 'noticed' us trying them on!!! We were the ones guffawing in the center of the room. Priceless. You can't make this shit up, folks. It's real life.

We paid for our shoes, and made our way onward - a new pair of shoes each and a memory to cherish.

Here's my moral for today - a good shoe sale is a great thing. A good friend is a true treasure.