Cutest Bobble Head Ever

Since Dillon started football practice this month, we've been having fun with it.  He's been more enthused some days than others but considering the boys are practicing in 90 degree heat and of course Dillon has managed to find every fire ant and piece of burning grass on the field so far, he's been hanging in there and we're proud of him. 

I told him to look tough.   I think this is his "mean face". 

It is kind of a trip to see the little guys all suited up.  They are so stinkin cute!  And of course add "equipment manager" on to that never ending list of Mamma duties...  ever tried to fish one of those stupid football pants belts through the inside waistband and around all the pads?   Oh my.  UGH!! 

This is his "Mom, please leave me alone so I can go

play Legos already!" face. 

DJ saw Dillon's helment and thought it was adult size.  It's youth size but because of all the padding the helments do wind up looking a little large on their little peanut heads, especially without their shoulder pads on.  DJ cracked up laughing and said Dillon looked like a Bobble Head.  "Hey Dillon....  nod your head back and forth real fast!  There you go, there you go...!!   Hahahaha"

Hey Dillon... nod your head back and forth real fast...   =)

Only he does kinda look like a Bobble Head.  Don't you think?  He's absolutely adorable, but now I think of that when I see him in his helment with no pads.

I just love football season!  =)

Singing Along

A couple Friday nights ago was an area-wide singing night at our Church with families coming from all over, as far away as Victoria, Palacios and Bellville.  It was awesome!   There is something about good old fashioned acapella congregational singing that just works magic on my soul.  =)

I dearly love to sing but I'm an absolutely terrible singer.  Surrounded with enough really good voices and people who love to sing though, and they drown me out enough so you don't even notice.  Gotta love that!  I'm not a "musical" kind of person.  I couldn't carry a tune on my own if you put it in a bag with handles.

People ask me "what do you sing?" meaning soprano, alto, etc.  I say "Along.  I just sing ALONG."  hahaha   Technically according to Mrs. Carey, the brave soul in charge of the one and only choir I ever belonged to in 6th grade, I am a soprano.  No, not like Tony Soprano on HBO. The singing kind of soprano.  Like Julie Andrews in the Sound of Music soprano.  Only I sound more like Edith Bunker??  I've never had a beautiful clear high soprano voice, nor do I have a strong enough alto for some of the great alto lead songs we sing.  I just kinda sing along with whatever feels right at the moment. 

I figure God created my voice and I'll do my best with what I've got.  Just not solo or where anyone can really hear me.  I didn't sing lullabyes to my babies.  I won't even sing in the shower.  And I never. ever. ever. ever in my whole life would sing karaoke or sing in front of people in any form.  Just not happening, nor would they want me to.  

My Dad had a beautiful Irish Tenor voice and was a big fan of singing as we all drove along in the car.  Do people even do that anymore??  I mean, besides on the Christmas Vacation movie and we all know how great that carol turned out.  That's one of my great memories as a little kid, singing in the car with my Daddy.  

When my Dad used to lead singing he would say "God made the crow right along with the songbird; whose to say He doesn't like its music just as much or more?" to encourage everyone to sing.   But then again my Daddy was cool like that.  And maybe he really didn't mind having a little crow in the car singalongs sometimes.

Now deep, dark, confession time....  you ready for this...?   I still love to sing in the car when I'm all by myself.  It's my indulgence.  I can really belt it on out if I feel like it.  Broadway ain't got nothin on me, baby!  There's something about singing that just lifts a spirit (even if you're not particularly good at it).  It sheds the layers of wordly worry one note at a time.  I can be having the worst day ever, and a verse or two of a favorite song can turn my day around!

I do get some funny looks on the freeway some days though.  But hey, at least I'm not putting on my makeup or picking my nose.  There are worse things in life than singing while driving.  =)

One Year Later

Wow, how many days passed since my last posting?  Really??   I originally envisioned being able to post on my blog several times a week.  But then again, things rarely go as I plan them.   So anyway...

Last week was a big week for me.  No, nothing exploded in my dryer.   Though one of these days, don't be surprised.   Thursday of last week was July 21st.  One of those dates now for me that is burned in my memory of big events... like my wedding anniversary, or my kids birthdays, or the day my Dad died.  I guess it was kinda like a death in one way, but a rebirth in another.  Thursday was the one year anniversary of the day I was laid off from my old job after 20 years of service.   At the time I was devastated.  After all it wasn't what I had planned.  It didn't fit in with my schedule, or budget for that matter either.  It was beyond my control.  I felt the rug jerked out from beneath me!  Oh, what a difference a year makes.

Last Thursday evening I got together with four previous co-workers (who were also caught up in the same layoff) to celebrate.   That's right, CELEBRATE!   One year ago, after spending an emotional morning of goodbyes and turning in our keys and ID's, the four of us went to lunch and leaned on each other.   Then last Thursday evening we met again for what turned into 4 hours of laughing till we cried and catching up.  Our worlds looked very different.  A total 180 degree change.   It turns out the layoff was a springboard to better things for each one of us, better than we ever could have imagined in all the uncertainty a year ago.  

I do miss the people at my old job but fortunately I still keep up with many of them outside of work and now David happens to work at the facility I spent the most time at and keeps me updated.  Though honestly we are both absolutely terrible with names and faces, so put that together and it makes for some interesting conversations....

David:  This lady at work told me to tell you hello.

Me:  Cool.  Who was it?  (There are only about 200 women employees there???)

David:  Uh, not sure.  Don't know her name.  She had dark hair.  And glasses.  I think.   I'm not sure.

...And then starts the one hundred and twenty questions back and forth until I think I might almost, maybe, perhaps know who he is talking about.... 

Me:  Oh, that's nice.  Please tell her hello for me too.

David:  Okay, will do.   (With a blank, puzzled look... Yeah, I know he's thinking there is no way he's going to remember who it was if he sees her again.  LOL)

I was blessed to work with some wonderful people who became like a second family to me and I'll carry those memories forever.  And no matter how hard I may try to shake them, I'll also carry some quite spectacularly bizarre memories of patients and events in my time there.  Believe me, when you work in prison healthcare for 20 years including 3 years with a concentrated transvestite population and over 10 years in a prison psychiatric hospital, you have some pretty interesting stories! 

We laughed about getting to enjoy the little "luxuries" in our new jobs that we couldn't before.  Like carrying a purse, a cell phone, and no daily patdown searches.  "I have SCISSORS out on my desk!", we laughed.  It's a whole nother experience out here in the "free world". 

God knew what I needed and had good things in store for me.  Just a few weeks after being laid off I found my current job which I absolutely LOVE, making more money, treated with more respect, and doing work I really feel makes a difference.  The funny thing about my old job (and I actually said this during my job interview even though I told them I knew I probably shouldn't) was that even though I was extremely proud of the great work my group did at UTMB,  I was almost ashamed to be proud of it.  After all, who wants to hear about how we give those prisoners such great healthcare when someone's Grandma can't even afford her medicine.  Also, it's an odd feeling to be part of a team treating a suicidal death row inmate, going to great pains to keep him alive long enough to meet his execution date. 


Now, working for M.D. Anderson, I get to see miracles happen to the nicest people every day.  It's truly a remarkable and inspiring place to work and I know my work makes a difference!  That alone is worth more than a paycheck.  Though of course my creditors do appreciate that I get paid also.  HEB doesn't accept "warm and fuzzy" at the checkout counter and I've had zero luck trying to grow a money tree.

My Office

(Pic taken last Fall, I seriously don't have a pumpkin in my office at the moment.)

Every difficulty in life teaches you things.  Having this layoff and uncertainty on the heels of our construction business going under the year before has taught me volumes.  In fact, I ought to have a PhD in "creative finance" by now.  Ha!  Seriously, more than anything it's taught me to trust God and be grateful for the blessings he's given to see us through...  Just enough of whatever I needed to get to the next step.  Just the right timing for things to fall into place.  Just the right kind word when I needed it most.  Just the best kids and family anyone could hope for.  Just the very best friends and encouragers anywhere.  Just a couple extra special friends who helped me when I needed it most (and was too proud to admit it).  Just a bigger sense of gratitude.  Just a bigger measure of trust for whatever tomorrow brings...

And just the best, most fascinating, no I'm not kidding - this really happened, 20 years of work stories ever...    =)

Are You Ready For Some Football?

We've been hitting 100 degree weather lately and so much humidity you just about need gills to breath.  What does that mean?  It's football time in Texas baby!!  Whoo Hooo!!  Somehow we've gotten this so mixed up and only have that nice cold "football weather" the last couple games of the season.  The rest of the time our poor kids are fighting heat stroke in addition to the opposing team.

Dillon is playing football for the first time this year in our local youth football league and is super excited!  It was so much fun watching him and his little buddies at our kick off football camp this morning, and then he will be practicing 2 hours a day 4 days per week until school starts.  Yes, football season has started in our house!

Football season in a small Texas town is absolute magic.  The whole town gets involved under those Friday Night Lights, watching our kiddos uphold the community pride on a 100 yard patch of grass.  It's cool!  This is another one of those things that my friends from the big city and mega-size schools just don't understand.  Their games may have school spirit, but ours have COMMUNITY SPIRIT!  So many people turn out for these small town games across the state, most without children playing, cheering, or performing in the band.  We turn out anyway because its OUR team.  Those kids represent us.  They work hard and we support them.  

For a playoff pep rally the year Dollie was mascot in high school, we honored some of the members of a previous state championship team.  Those gentlemen still got an emotional standing ovation 34 years after their winning season ended.   Wow!  That's legend.

Friday nights during football season, our school campuses are bathed in green.  Most of the little girls at the elementary wear cheerleader outfits, many of the boys wear football jerseys, and just about everyone else at least has a green booster club t-shirt on supporting their team!   Ask any Mom and see if at least 80% of the t-shirts in their home are not Boling green??  It's pretty much the same way in every small town with their school colors.   

Dollie on a Friday morning getting ready for school in 1st Grade



One of the coolest parts of the season also is seeing the circle of life kinda thing in a small town like ours.  Today's high school kids who play, cheer, and perform in the band are heroes to the little kids coming up behind them.  These teens who will play and perform under those iconic lights with hundreds of people cheering them on take time to teach and motivate the younger kids who look up to them.  What an awesome life lesson to learn to work hard and earn the adoration of others, only to use it to inspire someone else.   In addition to interacting with them at the games, the cheerleaders hold a mini-camp ending with an awesome Friday night pep rally which is the highlight of the summer for many little bulldog girls.  Some of the cheerleaders along with some of the boys and high school coaches also come out to coach at our football camp and stop by the youth football games to give encouragement.

I was so struck by this cycle as I watched our camp today.  I remember most of our current high school cheerleaders when they were sporting those first cheer outfits in kindergarten and the boys when their biggest catch on a Friday night was getting a plastic souvenier football.  Wasn't that just yesterday?

A particular high school senior football player this year was exceptionally good with our little boys this morning.  As he ran drills with them, had them barking like big bulldogs, and they hung adoringly on his every word... I remembered him when he was missing front teeth and running around the stands at the Friday night games with DJ.  He will be one of team captains this year, one of the heroes to Dillon and his teamates.  Dillon will be running around the stands with his buddies as this young man plays, trying to catch plastic footballs and dreaming of the day they can take the field themselves.  Sappy me... almost made we want to cry.

DJ and friends grew up watching the games, and then it was finally their turn to take the field...



     DJ making a tackle in 7th Grade

Dollie played multiple sports and even won the spot to be "Spike the Bulldog" one year during her high school days.  What a terrifically FUN year that was, attending cheer camp at Texas A&M, performing totally rockin skits at pep rallies, performing on the field with the cheer squad, interacting with the band and players, and being an absolute star celebrity to the younger kids (I'm not kidding, she had to have a cheerleader body guard to keep from getting mobbed!).  All this just about made up for having to wear that heavy thick suit in 100 degree weather!



Dollie as Spike

I remember my high school football games with friends in this same stadium.  Now getting to watch my own kids and their friends (many are the children of my own classmates) play under the same lights is a real treat. 

 My babies 2008 - DJ Playing, Dollie Watergirl/Manager,

 and Dillon - whose story is yet to be written

As I look backwards when going through this a second time with Dillon, it's also fun to glimpse into the future.   I see the cool Moms and Dads I'll be working with in Booster Club 10 years from now.  These adorable little cheerleaders in training will be our beloved high school cheer squad.  Hopefully Dillon, Tommy, Colby, Nick, Xavier and their other buddies will play together through youth league, junior high, and one day run onto that high school field together under the lights.  They will hold hands as they take the field as captains.  They will hear the roar of their proud community behind them.  They will sweat, and hurt, and bleed, and be victorious heroes for a few nights of their life on the field.  I hope in turn they will reach down and encourage some little 7 year old boys at football camp one day too.



DJ's Dragon

DJ is away this week at FFA state convention in Lubbock.  Even though it seems this time of year he is only home from midnight to 7am every day anyway (except when bribed home for supper with favorite foods), I miss the guy.  I miss his stories.  I miss his smile.  I even kinda miss The Dragon. 

The Dragon is DJ's truck, so named for it's temperment and affinity for belching smoke in large quantities...  very large quantities....  and for it's load roar....  and that it's usually 'flying' down the road... and occasionally spitting fire.  Yikes!   LOL   Money hasn't exactly been growing on trees around our house the past few years and DJ worked hard last summer and bought this truck all by himself.  I'm really proud of him for that.  Who needs a nice shiny new truck anyway?  One with windows that actually work?  And the ceiling isn't held in place by stolen Whataburger numbers?  Or the tailgate held on with a piece of rope?  Beauty and dependability are way overrated, right? 

The Myth, The Legend... THE DRAGON  =D

 

When The Dragon rolled off the assembly line in 1988 with its cassette stereo and huge bench seats covered in red crushed velvet (you don't want to hear what DJ calls them) Reagan was president and I was still in college.  It's a wonderfully big and roomy old beast though and can not only pull big trailers with literally tons of hay or equipment, but the back seat alone can also hold approximately one ton of junk, clothing, tractor parts, tools, and all manner of assorted objects and trash.  I tease Dollie that instead of a walk-in closet she has a four wheel drive closet because her truck is always full of clothes.  DJ's truck is more of a dumpster with mud tires!

Pardon the Arsenal and It's usually NOT this clean

DJ finally cleaned his truck out last week.  The clouds parted and angels sang.  It was quite the occasion.  No, of course he didn't clean it out because I had asked him 500 times over the past 5 months.  He did it so he could fit more people in for a hog hunting trip.  Nice.  At least he found the bag of cinnamon rolls and snacks I had bought for him.  I bought them back in APRIL for Fair week.  Eeeeeww!  He even took out his special seatcovers made of green astroturf and baling string.   Nothing but the Dragon's finest imitation red velvet for his hunting buddies! 

Redneck Seat Covers

All kidding aside, it's been a really good truck.  And it's been a great teacher... of life lessons, of patience, and of auto repair.  We keep telling DJ pretty soon he's going to have a brand new truck - one piece at a time.  God Bless our friend KB (who is an absolute mechanical whiz and can fix or McGuyver just about anything) who has helped DJ keep it running.  I'm not kidding... I saw DJ and Trey get it started one time it was broke down using only a tire iron and an old pencil under the hood.  KB taught these boys some SKILLS!  

What The Dragon lacks in beauty and polish though, it makes up for in personality.  I can't help but smile when DJ sits in the driveway grinning and revving that big ole engine until it looks like our house is on fire with smoke rolling from the stacks, waiting for me to come running out the door and tell him to knock it off.  Then he'll give me that mischevious head pop and laugh at me.  DJ!!! 

The Dragon has taught him to make do with what you have and be proud of it.  It's taught that beauty is more than skin deep.  It's taught the value of ingenuity and good friends.  It's also become something of a local redneck icon... a friend told me she was discussing vehicles with her junior high age son and telling him her current very nice truck would be his when he turned 16.  He said seriously "No way.  I want to buy DJ's truck!"  Hahahaha

Like a lot of us, I also started with a real POS first car and it definitely made me appreciate the better cars I had later in life.  I know DJ will be leaving the Dragon behind soon as he moves on to better things but I have to admit I'll be a little sorry to see the big ole eyesore go.  I've gotten kind of fond of it.  Now if DJ would only do something to get rid of his darn school bus.... 

When Ya Gotta Go...

You know how when you pick your puppy up after he's been at the Vet all day and he pees about 300 hundred times before he will come in the house?  He wets every tree, foreign object, and blade of grass within site.  You seriously wonder how one little dog could possible hold so much liquid?  Well Dillon (my 7 year old) had one of those kind of afternoons.  How could one little boy possibly have to pee 57 times in a 3 hour period?  Maybe it was all that tea he drank before we left the house, or possibly the approximate half gallon of terribly overpriced soda he consumed at the movies, but he got up to go twice during the movie and then hit the restroom of every single errand stop we made afterward until we finally hit that age old dilemma at the Kroger gas pumps...  every mother of a little country boy knows what I'm talking about here... he just pops out of the back seat while I'm pumping gas and starts to "assume the position".  Eagle-eye Mom that I am, I barely caught him before he had fully reached into his shorts  "NO SIR!  You can't go right HEEERE!!"  To which I got the "Aww Mom... but I REALLY have to go BAD!"  There is no restroom anywhere nearby without going into a store or restaurant, which I honestly didn't have the time or inclination to do, and there was no way he could hold it for the 30 minute trip home so...   we improvised.  Let me just say empty Sonic drink cups in the backseat are great for "take out".  LOL

Sad thing is this was by no means the first time he's had to use a restroom alternative.  Any of you have one of those spouses like mine who do not believe in stopping any time on a long road trip except for gas?  Well my old suburban, our previous road trip vehicle extroidinaire, got about 500 miles to a tank of gas.  Calculate that out and its about EIGHT HOURS nonstop.  Which meant you better think twice about that second glass of tea, and while the girls in the family may get a very quick stop after enough whining, boys were expected to either man up and hold it or improvise.  Is it any wonder why my boys learned to prefer wide-mouth bottles of Gatorade over 20oz. soda bottles on a road trip? 

I'm a little nicer.  I will usually pull over briefly on the side of the road.  Fess up country Moms, who among us has not done the pull over on the side of the road with no traffic, open both front and back doors, and place the kid in between them while you watch for any approaching traffic?  "Hurry up!  Hurry up!  And don't pee on the door!"  Hahaha

Restroom rules are often confusing for little country boys.  On one hand they are taught it is perfectly fine to "water the bushes" at the deer lease or when working out in the pasture, but then Mom freaks out when they try that in a busy store parking lot.  Go figure?  Over the side of the boat - very good; off the side of the front porch - very bad.   At the barn - Mommy loves you; in the outfield at baseball practice - Mommy has a coronary.  It's just too confusing at times? 

Then there is the Mom dilemma of what to do when you see your precious little boy "strike the pose" in an inappropriate place but too far away to inconspicuously tell him to cease operations.  Do you scream out at him, and therefore everyone around you turns and looks at him?  Or do you act like you don't know that hick of a kid and hope no one else notices??  (Only to quietly threaten him within an inch of his life later when you catch up with him.)  Hmmmm....  motherhood is full of these earth-shattering decisions.

Of course sometimes you just can't help but laugh at these country boys...  Once at t-ball practice when Dillon was younger he went behind an outbuilding (out of sight of everyone but us) to relieve himself since there are no bathroom facilities at the rural practice field.  Only he was feeling adventurous in that magical little boy way and decided to spin around in circles while peeing.  We busted out laughing!! 

Speaking of fun and peeing in the same train of thought, any of you who have witnessed DJ's bottle trick at the stock shows will agree out of all the hilarious stuff he's pulled over the years this is probably one of his all-time best gags ever!   At cattle shows the cattle are arranged in long rows, bedded down on wood shavings which of course the cattle pee and poop onto.  The kids spend long days hanging out with the cattle and caring for them while waiting for their time to show.  Hence the age old mathmatical formula Teenagers (+) lots of idle time on their hands (=) mischief.  While our group routinely makes the long walk to facility restrooms, it would not be totally out of the question for an uncouth gentleman to take a leak in the shavings with the cattle when no one is looking.  Hence the perfect gag...  DJ will drill a small hole in the lid of a plastic water bottle with his pocketknife and then wait for a good opportunity... usually when an unsuspecting lady friend is standing around and everyone except that target is in on the joke.  Then DJ will stand near that person with his back to them, assume the guy body position (feet apart, hips thrust forward, one or both hands in the nether region), only he is perfectly zipped up and just squeezes the water bottle to make a stream.  This usually gets one of several reactions:  1) The visible and outrageous shock on their face as it dawns on them what he's supposedly doing, followed shortly by blushing and looking the other way.  2) The shock followed by looking at others and motioning "can you believe this?".  3) The shock followed by shouting and/or running away.  Guys are often a little harder to shock than the ladies.  Once DJ did this to two of our show team Dads in San Antonio, only he turned slightly when they said something to him and sprayed their feet with the stream.  Ha!  They both jumped about two feet in the air and cussed a blue streak!   All of this of course is followed by absolutely hysterical laughter from the onlookers in on the joke.  Who else but DJ would come up with that AND be able to pull it off with a straight face? 

Being a Mom to good ole country boys isn't always easy, but it never ceases to keep me on my toes and be vastly entertaining!

I Hear Voices

Technology nowadays isn't just lightning fast and state of the art, it TALKS to you.  Like I stopped by an ATM this morning and in addition to the regular screen questions and the "you will be be charged $50 to withdraw $20, do you wish to continue?"  kinda stuff, it TALKED to me.  Or rather SHE talked to me.  Ever notice that most of the voices are women?  Ever wonder why?  Hmmmm...

It also seems many of these voices have a distinctly British accent.  Is that maybe because we're supposed to associate that accent with distinction or good manners?  Well heck y'all... this is TEXAS!  Don't you think it oughta have a good ole redneck southern accent?  Even the ATM's that don't talk usually have an option for directions in Spanish.  The Chase ATM's at my hospital have a whole bunch of choices, from chinese mandarin to arabic, so why can't we have "southern english" as an option.  It could be kind of like "english pirate" on facebook?  By the way, if you've never re-set your facebook language preference to english pirate, you absolutely without question must do that for at least one day.  It is pee your pants HILARIOUS!!

So when we pull up to a Texas ATM, instead of some snooty British broad saying "Welcome to Blah Blah Bank.  Please select an option below", it would say something in a distinctly southern drawl like... "Welllll, hay thare sugar!  Howsyamomanem?"  (Translation for my out of state friends... that's "how's your Mom and them" all run together.)  Then it could wink, fart, and burp at you before saying "Well bless yur little heart, yur runnin kinda low ain't ya?  You jus take yer muney das fixin ta cum out rite cher below this here screen and spend it careful now!"   Instead of "thank you and come again" and it would be something more like "You best be gittin on down da road der.  Be sure and give yo momma a big hug from me when ya see er!"

Well shoot, the options for this would be endless!  How about an english pirate version too..."Arg Matey! Be enterin yer secret treasure code to malay yer booty!"  Or a Vegas version "Now pull that little handle on the right side of the machine to see if you will actually receive your cash below."

I mean if we gotta pay through the nose to get our own money we might as well be entertained, right?