Just a Peek into Cowboy Man's Mind

Picture it: We're at Pier 1, and it's all decked out for Christmas. Gleaming lights, gorgeous deep red hues everywhere, and their best merchandise out for all to drool over and imagine in their homes. I am lost in the beauty of it all, just wishing I was there to buy something for me! I look up at my husband, and he has a thoughtful look on his face. I smile, knowing that my husband must be thinking the same thing I am thinking, which is how wonderful it would be to have so many of these things to make our home a beautiful Christmas showpiece. He looks down at me, smiles, and says, "All this stuff just looks like tomorrow's garage sale." *sighs* :)

Okay, Okay! Geez...

Okay. I know I haven't updated in awhile. I just haven't felt inspired to. I didn't really want this to be a blog that just updated everyone on how Cowboy Man and I are doing, like some Christmas newsletter. I wanted it to be a place where I only wrote about blog-worthy things. Funny and interesting things that happen that are just too good to keep to myself. Turns out, my life is pretty uninteresting!! SO...just to keep you all posted until I can come up with my next witty, hilarious, blog-worthy story, here's what's going on with us.

Cowboy Man is kicking butt in school. No seriously, he works over 50 hours most weeks, then goes to school two nights a week. He has an A in each of his classes, and his professor has even complimented him on his enthusiasm for the subject. He is registered for three classes next semester, so we are currently looking for fund-raising ideas. :) Too bad we can't sell cookie dough or popcorn (although if you're interested in either... haha).

I changed from teaching second grade last year to teaching fourth grade this year. Everyone asks with a twinkle in their eyes "So, how's THAT going?" It's different. That's pretty much all I can say on a public blog. It's very, very, very different. Today a kindergarten class passed by me with their sweet little turkey hats on that they had colored, and they all hugged me and told me they loved me. I refused to let a couple of them go until their teacher said I couldn't keep them. Then I turned around to my class. Instead of turkey hats, I saw sarcastic fourth grade expressions and kids chewing on erasers since I had made them spit their gum out. *sighs* But, the really good thing about fourth grade is you can give those sarcastic expressions right back, and they know what it means! A few days ago, I made my entire class MAD!!, then said in my sweetest, sappiest voice, "Now come give me a hug!" Not a single one of them got up! If that had happened last year, I would have had 22 kids get in line to hug me.

Cookie has decided that she no longer loves Cowboy Man or me, and tries to escape every chance she gets. But since she can't even hunt down a moth in our house with out Cowboy Man showing her where it is every few seconds, and she is also half the size of any of our neighborhood cats, she must remain an inside cat. She must have plotted and planned her most recent attempt for a good while, because the other day she shot out the door almost before it was even opened. She got far enough away that I thought she was gone, but thankfully a big bad speed bump in the road scared her. She stood there trying to figure out if she should walk over it long enough that we were able to catch up to her. She is currently plotting her revenge on us, and will retaliate as soon as she has come up with an acceptable plan, I'm sure.

So, that's our current life in a nutshell. I am on the look out for my next funny adventure about which to blog. (I almost said "to blog about," but as I am now an English teacher, I cannot end my sentences with prepositions. :) ) The holidays are coming up...I'm sure I'll have enough to write three pages. Love you all!!

That Dolly is a Huzzy!

What do you do when the water is too high in your yard for your dog to go outside? What the heck?! Did anyone else know we were going to get THIS much rain? I had to park at the mailbox and wade through several inches of rain to get home. Sister's four-pound Yorkie, Jackson, is staying with us while she is at the beach. He would literally have to swim if I let him out, so I'm hoping the water goes down soon! Hold it a little longer Jackson!! And speaking of the beach, my poor sister's family picked the worst week to go. She actually came home yesterday to pick up nephew's TV so he would have something to do. Last time someone in my family rented a beach cabin was September '05, and if you will think for just a second, you will remember what happened that month. Yes, my parents were evacuated from the beach cabin they rented during Hurricane Rita! So I'm thinking maybe we're jinxed...no more renting beach cabins for us. But for now, PLEASE Dolly, go away so Jackson can pee!

Our Patient

Cowboy Man is home resting peacefully (and loudly...he will probably have a sore throat tomorrow from all that snoring!). The surgery went well; hernia is gone! It was a very small hernia, and the surgeon was able to fix it with just a couple of stitches; he didn't even need to use the mesh. Apart from a little nausea, he's had no problems whatsoever. He drank a little chicken broth and had a few crackers to take his pain medication, and I've been in to check on him every half hour or so.

Dr. says the surgery was very easy, and the recovery should be relatively easy as well. He can drive as soon as he no longer needs pain meds, he can stand and walk around as soon as the anesthesia wears off enough, and he can even shower. He has no stitches on the outside; just the dermabond glue stuff. His only restrictions are no swimming for 1 week, and no lifting anything over 10 pounds for 6 weeks.

The member of our family that seems to be doing the worst with all of this is Cookie! She's a nervous wreck. I think she might be a little jealous, too. A minute ago I heard an awful sound and went running toward our bedroom, thinking something terrible had happened to Cowboy Man. What I found instead was Cookie, sitting in front of our bedroom door coughing. Not coughing enough to make me think she had a hairball (she's only had two in the entire year we've had her anyway), but just coughing enough for me to notice. As soon as I picked her up, she stopped. Hmmm....do cats fake coughs? I think ours might.

Thanks so much for all your prayers; God has truly blessed us. If anything else happens, I'll repost, but for now Cowboy Man should just get better and better every day, and will probably be back to work in a week or so! Love you all.

Hooters and Tampons and Thongs, Oh My!

What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas, but what happens in Kemah goes in a blog for all to see! We had such a wonderful time, and even learned a little (actually, a lot) at the workshop we were there to attend. But of course when there are three women staying in one hotel room for four nights together, there are bound to be some adventures! To name a few, there was a bathing suit contest, a male stripper's very patriotic thong, and a male night receptionist who became easily confused by feminine products.


The bathing suit contest was not quite as adventurous as it seems. Our hotel was right down the street from the local Hooters restaurant. They had a sign wishing good luck to Nicole in her bathing suit contest, so Melissa and Katy took a picture. We were watching for a Congratulations sign, but one never came, so I guess poor Nicole didn't win. We were disappointed, because I wanted a picture of Hooters congratulating me to put on my myspace page! But alas, we cannot always have what we want. :o)



The greatest thing that happened during the entire trip occurred the first night. Melissa almost didn't survive it! I was sitting at the table on the computer, Katy was brushing her teeth in the bathroom, and Melissa had just stretched out in her bed. She very abruptly jumped up and screamed, and started doing the heebie-jeebie dance. I snapped my head around to see what could have caused this behavior, and in the middle of Melissa's bed, I see this:

What is that, you ask? Well it's a pair of shiny red, white, and blue male stripper's thongs! I thought Melissa was going to throw up, because she had touched those nasty things! We were freaking out! I mean, does this hotel even change the sheets between customers? Melissa was just about to call the front desk and demand that our stay there be free, when Katy (God love her) comes tripping out of the bathroom, holding her stomach, tears rolling down her face from laughing at us. She had planted those awful drawers! She says she got them as a gag gift, but we all know they're really Troy's. (Ha Ha Katy, I believe you that they were a gag gift. No really, I do!) Melissa ended up having all kinds of stomach problems for the rest of the night as a result of her daughter's betrayal!

Unfortunately, she wasn't the only one with a problem that night. One member of our trio realized that she had left her feminine products at home, and needed them at the precise moment that she realized this. So, I had the bright idea that we should call down to the front desk. They had this sign that said if you forgot any standard toiletry items you could call and they would give you some for free. Surely a pad would be considered a standard toilety item, right? Turns out, not only is it not standard, but the poor guy at the front desk didn't know what we were talking about. Now, to you, this may not be funny, but this was a source of entertainment for us for several hours. Of course, when we saw the guy, it made perfect sense that he didn't know (bless his heart), and he probably didn't even put two and two together when two girls dressed in PJ's left the hotel two minutes later and came back with a Walgreens bag.

There of course were countless other adventures, such as Katy cartwheeling across the stage at the workshop, Melissa "squashing Katy's dreams," which we even came up with a hand-motion for, watching a new version of the Wizard of Oz and The Bachelor, and piling six people into The Character Caravan, but I won't bore you with those. I just listed them to be a nice reminder to the three of us who were there. We met new friends, were pampered like we'd never been pampered at a workshop before, and learned all kinds of new things about teaching and each other. And hopefully, we'll get to relive all of it at the alumni workshop next year (minus the thongs maybe)!

(To the rest of the "Buna Bunch," Melissa and Katy: not only did I list, but I also webbed on each part of the list, included a couple of transitions between paragraphs, and could have worked much more on my lexicon! Randi would be so disappointed!!)

Update on Cowboy Man's surgery

Cowboy Man's surgery is at the beginning of next week. I was wrong about the anesthesia; they are using general anesthesia. We've got everything ready, and once he's had the surgery I will update. Thanks for your thoughts and prayers!

Home Alone

I'm finding that leaving for a few days is much more complicated when you're married than it is when you're single. When I was single, I could just pack what I needed and leave. I didn't have to stock up on anything, because I wasn't going to be home to use it anyway. I didn't have to make sure clothes were clean, because I wouldn't be home to wear them. But now it's a whole different story! I'm leaving in the morning for a workshop in Kemah with my good friends Melissa and Katy. I'll be gone until Friday evening, so that's 5 days and 4 nights that I'll be leaving my poor hubby home alone! I've worked harder to get ready to leave than I will at the workshop I think! I've made sure that he has enough clean clothes to last him the week, I've made notes of things that must be done while I'm gone (feed the cat, water the plants, etc.), I've gone on-line to schedule bill payments for this week, and now I'm about to go to the grocery store to stock up on everything he'll need for the next few days, and then I'll cook a few dinners so he can just reheat them. Otherwise he would eat fast food all week. How many of you think he'll eat fast food anyway and not even eat what I leave? I guess I'll discover the answer to that Friday evening. I would like to make sure the house is all spic and span before I leave too, so that when he comes home to an empty house it will at least be wonderfully clean, but that might not happen; we'll see.

All this preparing to leave has made me exhausted...I think I need a vacation! I wonder if Melissa and Katy have had to do all this too?!

My Inner Carrie

"Wednesday, there's a crew of us going to take the kids down to Tugboat Island and play at the new splash park they built in Port Neches. Just wanted to invite you if you have nothing to do!"

That was the message I received inviting me to go for a play date with five of my friends and their kids. I was a little apprehensive, of course. I mean, how pathetic would it be for me to go on a play date? Don't most moms hate going on play dates to public places where kids out-number adults 5 to 1? And I'm not even a mom...I'm going to go on a play date with no kid? Hmmm...I don't know about that. But then, I thought, "What would Carrie do?" Carrie, of course, refers to Carrie Bradshaw of Sex and the City. (Now, all you who have dropped your jaw thinking about the fact that I watch Sex and the City can close your mouths, because I watch the TBS version, which might as well just be called The City. All boobs and major cuss words are cut out.) Carrie would go on a play date with Miranda and Brady, and she would dress fabulously and wear Manolos! So I decided to go, minus the Manolos. I wasn't entirely sure that I could walk on woodchips and wet cement in four-inch heels, so I settled for cute flats instead. And when one of my friends told me "You're not dressed for a play date at a splash park," my inner Carrie smiled and was glad that I didn't have to ruin my cute shoes running after a child.

So after an hour and a half of driving and looking for a new park once we discovered the one we came all the way to Port Neches to see was closed, finally finding a splash park, fighting bird-sized mosquitos, unpacking three vehicles worth of towels, extra clothes, snacks, diapers, toys, bottles, and anything else that children need, and discovering that self-tanner turns your sweat orange, I was glad that I went. I had such a good time with my friends and their sweet babies, and then I went home to my wonderfully quiet house. Now what could be better than that?

Cowboy Man's Surgery

We saw the surgeon today for Cowboy Man's hernia. The hernia is small, and requires just a minor outpatient procedure. They aren't even doing lab work ahead of time, so I'm guessing they'll just be using IV sedation and not general anesthesia. I can't imagine them using GA with no lab work. They are going to schedule the surgery and then let us know the date. I know it won't be next week because I will be at a workshop out of town. I think it will be the week of the 14th. Anyway, it's a very minor procedure; just going in and putting a few stitches. They don't even have to use the mesh since he went to the doctor so early and stopped lifting heavy things. So we are thanking God that it's so minor, and Cowboy Man feels much better now that he knows what they are going to do. Thanks so much for all your prayers, and I'll update everyone once he's had the surgery.

I Love Sundays!

Church today was great! I was nervous about singing of course, but once I got up there it all came back to me. It's like riding a bicycle I guess. Our pastor gave us all gift cards to Chili's to show his appreciation. Isn't that sweet? I guess I picked the right week to start singing! Ha ha. I've been on staff at several different churches, and been on several praise teams, and I've never had a pastor do anything like that before. It's just nice to be appreciated. Anyway, Cowboy Man's sister and niece came this week, too, and niece made a sock puppet in Sunday school, which she LOVED! She really enjoyed herself, and I think his sister did too. We all went out to eat with Cowboy Man's cousin's family. All in all it's been a very nice day so far! Now I'm gonna to go kick Cowboy Man's butt at Crash Bandicoot and enjoy my Sunday afternoon!

Hernias and Long Fingernails Don't Mix

Well, Cowboy Man went to the doctor this morning with what we were thinking was probably a hernia, and we were right. He said she smashed her finger into his belly button to find it. Advice to any aspiring doctors out there...keep short fingernails if you are going to shove your finger in someone's belly button! Anyway, his doctor's office is scheduling an appointment with a surgeon, and they'll call us back and let us know when the appointment is. I'm hoping that if he needs surgery it can be done before school starts so that I can take better care of him while he's down. The good thing is that his employer is being absolutely wonderful about it. Of course the first thing Cowboy Man thought when he heard surgeon was money. I was assuring him that we would be fine, all the while wondering myself if I was telling the truth. He has insurance, but deductible and our 20% will probably be a nice chunk of change. But God answered my prayer about that pretty much immediately. The receptionist at the doctor's office asked if he was going to talk to his employer since he probably got the hernia lugging stone countertops around. We hadn't even thought of that. He called Mr. Boss Man, and he has offered to pay everything that insurance doesn't cover! To me, that's way better than going through worker's comp because it's way less of a hassle. So that's a burden lifted. We'll know better what is going to happen hopefully next week. I'll keep you posted.

Practice was interesting last night. I'm on the praise team now, but I don't really know a lot of the songs. They are songs that this group has been singing ever since they were at the old church, so they all know them really well. Me, not so much, since I didn't go to that church. I'm going to sing what I know, and just mouth what I don't for the first few weeks. The poor sound guy is probably going to hate me! But I'm really happy about all the sales going on today, because I'm going shopping in a little while for a couple of new dresses. (Any excuse to go shopping is great for me!) So say a little prayer for me that I won't make a fool of myself Sunday morning, and that I'll find some great deals this afternoon! :o)

Boredom and Singing

Well I've officially reached complete boredom! I'm going to have to find something to do for the rest of my summer, because I don't think I can stay home all day everyday anymore! I'm even thinking of *gasp!* going to school to get some work done. I can't have that. So what does one do when they are out for the summer, but most of their friends are not teachers? Lunch with my working friends comes to mind here...but for some reason I haven't suggested it. Maybe I should.

Tonight I have my first practice with the praise team at our church. Not that it's 100% decided that I'm going to be on the team yet; I think we're just going to see how it goes tonight. It's been a LONG time since I have sung anything, which is weird now that I think about it. I was a music major for two years, and eventually switched because I realized I was a decent singer, but not a great musician. There is a difference. I kept music as my minor because it would have been crazy not to since I had so many hours. I was the worship leader at one church, then on the praise team at my next church, and I really never imagined that there would be a time that I would not be singing in front of people regularly. But, time flies, and here I am. It's been about five years since I have sung anything in front of anybody. So when Kelly asked me last week if I still sang, my answer was "Ummmm....kinda. Why?" She told me they needed help on the praise team, and asked if I could come practice with them. And now I'm terrified! I mean, this church runs about 250-300 or so most weeks. Will I make a fool of myself in front of them? And I know I shouldn't think like that because it's not about me, it's about giving God praise. I get that. But you get up there and sing after five years of not singing and tell me you're not scared to death! But, the good thing is...if I actually end up on this team, I gotta go shopping tomorrow for some new dresses! Yay! Too bad all my friends work on Fridays and can't come with me...

And now we're back to the boredom thing.